Phenomenon (2)
by Whip-Owl
Summary: The original 4 clans are gone, and 4 new ones were created. However the cats problems are far from over. Each cat is having their own problems leading a clan, and with a new phenomenon hitting the clans, and Death Trap causing indirect attacks, these problems are only made worse. *Sequel to Once Upon a Time and Very Long ago.*
1. Chapter 1

Prophecy

(A few things. Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors. And speaking of the series, I made a poll asking if I should make six of these. One person said yes, so that's what I'm setting it up for. If two people review like, within the span of this chapter, saying they think otherwise, I might change that plan. But now I have a lot of ideas, so I hate to do that. And, for a random bit of information everyone can pretty much skip, for the first story, I came up with the title because I had the song Once Upon a Time and Very Long Ago going through my head. So, now all the titles of this series will be a song title.)

Lightingstar stood in the center of her camp, which was the middle of the horse place. One of her warriors, Blazepelt, entered camp. "I caught a vole!" he said. He sounded like a cat half his age.

"That's great Blazepelt." Lightingstar said. Though she didn't sound too thrilled. He set it down and opened his mouth to eat it. "Wait!" Lightingstar yelled.

Blazepelt froze. "What?" he asked.

"Have your kits eaten yet?"

"No."

"Then feed them first."

Then, because clearly things weren't difficult enough, Feathertuft stuck her head out of the nursery. "The kits aren't here." She told them.

Lightingstar was about to ask, or maybe demand was a better word, where they were, but then she heard their voices. "Wonder where this leads." Lizardkit was saying.

She spun around and her eyes widened when she saw where the kits were. "STOP!" she screamed.

She had probably said it too loud. Slitherkit looked like he was trying to land on the ceiling he jumped so high. Lizardkit jumped back, and hit the wall lightly. Then she faced Lightingstar. "What did we do?"

Lightingstar sighed, and let her voice level go back to normal. "The rats were driven into there. If you open it, they might come back." She explained.

"Oh." Lizardkit said.

"Sorry." Slitherkit added.

Lightingstar nodded. "No harm done. Now, I believe your father has a vole for you."

"Yippe!" Lizardkit cried. The two ran to Blazepelt.

Lightingstar meanwhile, leaned in closer to the wall. She was hoping to hear if the rats were still there. "Lightingstar?"

Lightingstar barely bit back snapping as she turned to face Ashpelt. "Yes?"

"I found some herbs that might be helpful to us. The only problem is they're in Fallenclan territory. What do you advise?"

Lightingstar thought for a little. She knew it was against the rules to go over a boundary without permission. "Go wait for a patrol. Fallenstar isn't the type to refuse for herbs."

Ashpelt nodded and left camp.

* * *

Stormstar was in Starclan. He knew he was dreaming. Jayfeather walked over to him. "Hello Stormstar."

"Jayfeather!" somehow that tom always took him by surprise. "The clan's going well." Jayfeather nodded. Stormstar was surprised Jayfeather had agreed with him, and a little worried. "So, if it's going well, why are you here?"

"I am here to give you a prophecy."

"Okay." There was a short silence. "Well. . ." Stormstar promted.

Jayfeather sighed, as if he was about to say something extremely stupid. Stormstar soon found out why. "Darkness and death are near. The shadow is far, but the 'night' will save the clans."

Stormstar blinked. "Wait what?" But Jayfeather was already fading, and so was the rest of Starclan. "Wait!" Stormstar cried desperetly. "I don't know what that means!"

He was too late. His eyes snapped open and he was no longer dreaming. He sighed.

(If anyone can figure out what in the blue blazes this prophecy means, they can name Icepelt and Fallenstar's kits. I'll say in A/N once it's too late to guess.)


	2. Crash

Crash

Fallenstar sat on top of the two leg place, watching his clan go about their day. He had the biggest clan, and this was the best place to watch them all. He didn't notice Icepelt until she was practically on top of him. "Hey." She said.

Fallenstar turned and gave a small smile. "Hi Icepelt."

"Want to get out of camp for a while? We can hunt and maybe check the borders too if you want to get something done." she offered.

Fallenstar nodded. "Sure." He agreed. He remembered when they and Fangmouth were younger. Icepelt tended to get them in trouble, and it was Fallenstar who got them out of it.

They climbed down the two leg place and crossed camp. They were almost out of camp when Fangmouth ran up. "Hey guys! Where are you going?"

Fallenstar shrugged. "Hunting."

"Can I come too?"

"Sure." Fallenstar nodded. But Icepelt looked troubled. He turned to her. "Is something wrong?"

"What? No." Icepelt shook her head. "Let's hunt."

The three of them hunted for a while. Fallenstar was stalking after a crow when he heard a strange noise. He lifted his head and looked around for the source. That's when he saw it. On the hill nearby, one of the monsters was moving! Then he looked at the bottom of the hill, and felt his heart drop to his stomach. "Icepelt! Looks out!" He raced towards her. Icepelt looked up at the monster and froze. It hit her. She gave a scream and fell down.

_Oh no. Don't let her be dead. _Fallenstar thought in dread. He ran over, she was still moving. But she was clearly in pain. He turned, Fangmouth had come over. "Get Sliverstripes." He ordered.

Fangmouth blinked. "Wha-"

"Now!"

Fangmouth ran off.

Fallenstar let out a sigh. Sliverstripes had never been a good fighter, but now that they were a clan she was a great help as medicine cat. He put his nose to Icepelt's fur. "It hurts." She cried.

"Sliverstripes is coming. She'll help."

Icepelt nodded but she was crying. Fangmouth and Sliverstripes came running over. "Out of the way." Sliverstripes ordered. She'd gotten more confident since becoming medicine cat too. She investigated Icepelt. "A broken leg. Not too serious though." She gave Icepelt what looked like gray dots. "Poppy, it takes the pain away."

Icepelt ate them gratefully. Sliverstripes riffled through her other herbs. She put Icepelt's leg in a rather clumsy cast. "I can do it better when we get back to camp. Fangmouth, will you help me get her back?"

Fangmouth nodded. Fallenstar was about to point out he could help, when he saw a cat close to the border. "I have to go." He said apologetically. Then he went off.

It was Ashpelt. "Hello Fallenstar."

Fallenstar was a little surprised, but he got over it. "Greetings. If I may ask, what are you doing here?"

Ashpelt nodded. "There are some herbs on your territory." He nodded his head at some plants nearby. "I was wondering if you'd let me take some."

"Of course." Fallenstar stepped out of the way. "Being a medicine cat, you didn't even have to ask."

Ashpelt stopped mid-step. "Medicine cats don't have to ask?"

Fallenstar shook his head. "However, they should know the rules of the warrior code." He said pointedly. "They do have a special connection with Starclan after all."

Ashpelt sighed. "You mean they used to." Fallenstar looked confused so he continued. "After the old clans died, they didn't pick medicine cats. They picked leaders. We had to choose ourselves." Then he walked to the herbs leaving Fallenstar to think on what he'd just said.

* * *

Moonstar sat in the leader's den. It was a very small den, but there weren't many places for dens on this island and she was just one cat. Eclipsepelt walked to the entrance. "Moonstar?"

Moonstar turned around a smiled. Eclipsepelt was the only cat here she'd really known before forming the clan. Though she'd seen a few of the others around. "What is it Eclipsepelt?"

"Smokekit wants to be an apprentice." There was a pause. "Isn't there a rule against that?"

Moonstar thought. She was pretty sure there was a rule saying you had to be a certain age before being an apprentice, but she didn't remember the age. That meant it was common sense time. Smokekit seemed too young to be an apprentice. She went back to facing Eclipsepelt. "Yes, there's a rule. I'll go talk to Smokekit."

Eclipsepelt nodded and they walked out of the den together. Than Eclipsepelt left. Moonstar's deputy Blueblaze had him for border patrol. Moonstar went the nursery. Smokekit turned towards her. "Hi Moonstar. Am I going to be an apprentice?"

"I'm sorry Smokekit, but you're still too young."

Smokekit looked horribly disappointed. He looked at the ground. "Is this because I'm blind?"

Moonstar shook her head, though if she was honest it was kind of creepy how he didn't have eyes at all. "Smokekit, I promise, when you're old enough, I'll make you an apprentice. And you'll become a great fighter and hunter like you want. I just don't want you getting hurt because you're not old enough."

Smokekit sighed, but she could tell he was done arguing. "Alright."

Moonstar smiled, then remembered he wouldn't see it. "Thank you Smokekit." She said kindly. Then she left.


	3. Starclan Meeting

Starclan Meet

Firestar looked down from Thunderclan's part of Starclan and shook his head. "What is it?" Jayfeather asked him.

"Moonstar's going to make Smokekit a warrior apprentice. I feel like she's making a mistake."

"We're just supposed to watch Stormclan." Millie pointed out.

"True, but he's the only one who really knows what he's doing." Firestar said.

Jayfeather nodded. "I could always talk to Moonstar or Smokekit. I know from experience about these things." _And I can visit Half Moon on the way back. _He added silently to himself.

Firestar nodded. "That's a good idea." So Jayfeather walked out.

Not long after he left Silverkit ran up. "Firestar! There're two cats from Skyclan here."

Firestar blinked in surprise. "Alright, they can come here." The two cats came. "Hello Leafstar. Billystorm." He nodded his head to them.

"Hello Firestar." Leafstar greeted.

"So, what brings you here?" Firestar asked.

"We heard the four clans have found new cats to recreate the clans. And we'd like to recreate Skyclan too."

Firestar supposed this shouldn't be surprised, but he still was. "Well, I don't think anyone will have any problems with that. But you might want to come back when you've decided which cat you want to lead."

"We've already decided." Billystorm said.

"Oh? Who is it?"

"A cat named Spring. She lives on the other side of the sun drown place." Leafstar told them.

Bramblestar looked up in shock. "There's something beyond the sun drown place?"

Leafstar nodded. "A lot of things actually." Billystorm added.

Leafstar said, "The cats on the other side of the sun drown place are a little different. But Spring will make a good leader. And there are cats there that would make good clan cats."

Firestar nodded slowly. "You'll probably have to tell the other clans about this." Bluestar told them. "But Thunderclan will support your decision."

(Don't get your hopes too high on the cats being different comment. As far as I'm aware they're not really that different, just a few little things.)


	4. Rat Attack

Rat Attack

(By the way, I didn't goof when I said Lightingstar has eight lives. She lost one to Wingshadow.)

There was a scream. Lightingstar shot awake. She ran to the edge of the floor and looked down. The rats had broken through and one of them was attacking Feathertuft. She was putting up a good fight, but she'd been caught off guard. "Rats!" Lightingstar screamed. "The rats are here!" the other cats woke up.

Lightingstar ran down and started attacking. She dove in, aiming for the rat's neck, but it predicted that. She jumped out of range and clawed its side. Then she jumped on top of it and clawed its neck. That was when another rat ripped her side open. She staggered off.

Wingshadow bounded over and helped her. With her helping it was much easier. They fought together, biting and shaking rats. They would also attack the same rat from opposite sides. She didn't even have time to check on the other cats. This time she wasn't going to risk just trapping them in a wall. She would get rid of them permanently. The cats killed rats until they fled. And then Lightingstar chased after them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Wingshadow and Blazepelt exchange shocked glances. They ran after her and helped her chase the rats, hissing and striking at them. Lightingstar grabbed one of their tales and ripped. The rat's tail came off. She sat panting, watching the rats run off.

Then Lightingstar turned around and walked back into the horse place, not that there were any horses left. They'd set the horses lose in the battle against the rouge group.

Lightingstar's eyes widened when she saw how badly Feathertuft was hurt. "Ashpelt! Help Feathertuft!" she called.

Ashpelt dashed over with his herbs and started applying. Lightingstar was impressed at his speed. Then she saw his eyes drift to her. "Lightingstar! You're hurt!"

"I have eight lives. Worry about the others first!"

Ashpelt nodded and turned back to Feathertuft. Once he had taken care of all the hurt cats, including Lightingstar, she stood straighter and glared at them. "Who opened that?"

"Wasn't me." Lizardkit said.

"Of course not. We knew not to." Slitherkit added.

No one else said anything. Lightingstar had made her warning announcement rather loud the day before, it was probably true none of them had done it. She sighed. "I'm sorry. It seems no one here has done it. But that means someone snuck into our camp. We should all be on our guard."

There were murmuring agreements to this as the cats went back to their separate sleeping places. There were actual walls here, though Lightingstar hadn't figured out what they'd been for yet. Only horses had lived here, not two legs.

Wingshadow walked up to her. "Do you think one of the other clans did this?" she whispered.

Lightingstar shook her head. "We're all still getting used to being clans. They wouldn't go looking for trouble this early. Besides, I think we already have a reputation as the shadiest clan."

Wingshadow looked amused. "You have a point there." She yawned. "If you don't mind, I'm going back to sleep."

"You don't need my permission to sleep." Lightingstar said. Then she walked over to the hole the rats had come from and sniffed. She had been right, it wasn't one of the other clans. Unfortunately, she didn't recognize the scent. She sighed. Everyone knew to watch out now. She might as well get some sleep.

* * *

Stormstar sat in his den. "Stormstar?" he wondered what the prophecy meant. If death was coming how could night save them? "Stormstar?" _Or maybe I'm thinking to literally. What else could night mean? _"Stormstar!"

Stormstar blinked and turned around. His deputy, Nightwind, was standing at the entrance. "Oh sorry. I was just . . . thinking."

Nightwind nodded slowly. "Well, are you going to help me? You said we'd work on the warrior code today."

"Oh, right." He remembered now. He had wanted to work with Nightwind so she'd become a good leader. "Okay, here's a rule you haven't heard before. Once a moon the clans must join together for a peaceful meeting."

"Where do we meet?"

"The island on the lake."

"But Moonclan's camp is there."

Stormstar blinked. "Really? How do you know?"

"I was at half bridge, you have a pretty good view from there."

Stormstar put his head down. This meant they'd have to find a new place to have meetings by the next full moon. "Well, Moonclan and Lightingclan are the clans most in the middle. Why don't you go to the border and talk to Moonstar about it. I have to train Emberpaw."

Nightwind nodded. "I can do that." she left the den.

Stormstar came out after her. "Emberpaw!"

His apprentice came running up. "Yes Stormstar?" She had a way of always saying his name like it was ridiculous.

"It's time to start training. Now let's go." He led her out of camp and into the forest.

"So, what first?" Emberpaw asked.

"You're going to hunt."

Emberpaw sighed. "Any fool can hunt."

Stormstar tried not to sigh. Emberpaw was always like this, and getting irritated would not help him. "Any fool should hunt. It's important. Besides, I want to see what you can do. There might be room for improvement."

Emberpaw looked thoughtful about this for a second, then she gave a slow nod.


	5. Moonstar's Dream

Moonstar's Dream

Fallenstar walked into the Medicine den. Well, really the den was inside a two leg place. But now that the two legs were gone that wasn't a problem.

Icepelt looked up when he walked in. "Sliverstripes isn't here." She informed Fallenstar.

Fallenstar smiled. "That's okay. I just came to make sure you were okay."

Icepelt's eyes lit up. "Well, obviously I'm not perfect right now. But I'm doing okay actually. Sliverstripes is a good healer."

Fallenstar nodded. "She is. And I'm glad you're okay."

"Fallenstar?" Fallenstar turned around. Sliverstripes was standing at the entrance with some herbs in her mouth. "Fallenstar, when do the medicine cats meet?"

Fallenstar thought about it. He knew the clans met on the full moon. That had been an easy one; it was the same time his group had met before it was a clan. But he didn't know when medicine cats met at moonpool. He sighed. "A medicine cat can travel where they like. You should go ask Stormstar about it." Sliverstripes nodded and left.

Stormstar knew the most of all of them. _Know it all. _Fallenstar thought. Stormstar had way of acting above it all because of his oh so wonderful knowledge. It annoyed Fallenstar.

* * *

Moonstar curled up in her den. It had been a long day in camp. It was no secret her clan had the least territory, Lightingstar had taken some by claiming the horse place, and Stormstar had claimed the territory around half bridge. So hunting was sometimes tough, but they still had at least a clan and a half worth of territory by the old clans' standards.

And of course, there were cats asking her about rules. She had such trouble remembering them all, and it was very embarrassing when Eclipsepelt or Blueblaze knew a rule she didn't.

_Well, I'm letting that all go now. _She thought. She fell to sleep. This was not to be a peaceful sleep though. When she lifted her head she realized she was in Starclan. The last time she was in Starclan she'd seen her brother Black, as well as several former Windclan cats. This time she saw no one. _No . . . there's a tom. _It wasn't a cat she recognized. "H-hello." She called out.

The tom turned around and walked to her. "Hello Moonstar. I know we've never met, my name is Jayfeather. And I'm from Thunderclan."

_Oh, so that's why. _Moonstar thought. Each former clan had worked with a different cat. Windclan had worked with Moonstar, and Thunderclan had worked with Stormstar. "So, why are you coming to me?"

Jayfeather looked amused. "Each clan might have focused on one cat, but Starclan works together. I'm here to talk about Smokekit."

Moonstar swallowed. "Yes?"

Jayfeather sighed. "I was blind in life. I thought I could be a warrior, but I was wrong. And I'm here so you can stop Smokekit from trying the same mistake. Maybe he should be a medicine cat."

Moonstar shuffled uncomfortably. "I think you should talk about Smokekit himself about this."  
"I tried, but he's stubborn. He didn't listen."

Moonstar frowned. "If Smokekit listened to you, and still wants to be a warrior, I won't stop him."

"Moonstar! He's going to figure out he can't do at some point. You might as well save him some wasted time."

"Being a warrior is not a waste of time! Our medicine cat doesn't need an apprentice. I'm making him an apprentice."

Jayfeather bristled. "Fine. You'll figure out it's a mistake eventually." He walked away and Moonstar's dream went back to darkness. She slept in a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night.


	6. Plan to Kill

Plan to Kill

Inside Death Trap's head, it was like a hammer swinging back and forth. Every time the hammer hit her head she heard_ kill. Kill, kill, KILL!_ There was a time when this hadn't happened, but now she knew; no matter how nice a cat could seem, all of them deserved to die for some reason or another. She herself was no exception.

She looked at the two cats next to her, Dinosaur and Dragon. "We have done well lately. No one suspects that we're behind the rat and monster attack."

"Pity those didn't do any good." Dragon hissed.

Death Trap tried not to loser her temper, but Dragon had been horribly annoying this whole time. Death Trap had _invited _Dinosaur. Dragon had followed them along, asking to join. "Well, now I have a plan that will do some good. We are going to release the dark ones."

The other two gasped. "I didn't know those actually existed." Dinosaur said.

Death Trap nodded. "They do. They're just trapped in the mountains."

"But-but Death Trap, I heard the dark ones are unstoppable. Won't they kill us too?" Dragon objected.

Death Trap gave a low growl. Too low to be heard. Dragon really would have to go. "Don't worry Dragon, while the clans are fighting the dark ones, we'll escape. But it's just me and Dinosaur going to the mountains. I have a different, special, plan for you."

"Really? What?" she asked.

Death Trap smiled; there was one sure way to make sure she died. "I'd like you to join Moonclan. See if you can create some distrust among the clans. If they don't work together, they don't stand a chance against the dark ones."

Dragon beamed with pride. "Okay. I won't let you down Death Trap!" She dashed off towards Moonclan.

Death Trap smiled. _No, don't let me down Dragon. Die, exactly what I want._

* * *

Spring woke up in a pile of soft two leg things called clothes. Summer was sleeping peacefully next to her. "Hey Spring, look!" Autumn called. "You like?"

Spring tried not to laugh. Autumn was wrapped in a big pink thing with feathers. "Very you." She joked.

Summer woke up beside her. "A big pink bird!" she jumped on Autumn and they started play fighting.

Spring chuckled. Each of them were named after seasons. At first Spring hadn't known what their names meant, but their mom had explained it. That reminded her of something. She looked around. _Where's Winter? _Winter was the only brother of the siblings, and he couldn't do _anything. _So of course, it was concerning he wasn't here.

"Spring! They're coming!" Autumn yelled.

Spring's eyes widened. "Come over here!" she yelled. The three sisters huddled deeper into the clothes and watched out the window. The cats Autumn had just warned about were the main rouge group of this place. They were really the only rouge group that entered the former two leg place, and they were horrible. No cat had a name, they were numbers. Even the leader was just called 'Leader'. Plus, they'd take the sibling's mom.

The cats came into view. Summer started breathing heavier. She sounded like she was hyperventilating. "I don't want to d-"

Spring shoved her tail into Summer's mouth. If she yelled the group would be discovered. Summer could be so delicate every time something went wrong. It worried Spring sometimes.

_Wait a second . . . Winter is still missing! _Her eyes widened. _Where is he? Oh creator, tell me Winter wasn't caught. _

The rouge group passed the two leg place without seeing them. Autumn and Summer let out a sigh of relief. But Spring jumped to the window. It was broken so she could put her head out and look around. The rouge group was gone. That meant it was safe to raise her voice. "Winter! WINTER!" she called.

She saw a white cat running towards them. He tripped, got up and kept running. It was Winter alright. Then Spring noticed something in his mouth. _Did Winter actually catch something? That's a first. _As he got closer she realized it wasn't prey. It was a plant of some sort. Spring wrinkled her nose. _Why would he bring a plant back?_

Winter jumped in. He dropped the plant and panted. "I'm sorry. I just left early to hunt."

Spring looked at his plant. "I'd say you failed at that."

Winter shook his head. "No. I met a cat, she was really strange. She sparkled."

"Really?" Summer asked. Her eyes getting wide in excitement.

Winter nodded. "Crazy right? Anyway, she told me this plant would help with those stomach aches we all get sometimes. And you know what else she said?"

Summer leaned in. "What?"

"She said the four of us aren't just any cat. That we're meant special."

"Yay!" Summer jumped up. She turned to Spring smiling. "You hear that? We're special."

Spring smiled. "Yes. It's great." She said. But she didn't believe a word Winter had just said. She doubted Autumn did either. Winter had made it up, to avoid getting in trouble, and to make Summer happy.


	7. Poison Rain

Poison Rain

(You'd think I'd run out of names by now. But a lot of these names are cats I roleplay, on one sight alone.)

Lightingstar walked past all the stalls in the horse place, they were dens now. "WAKE UP!" she shouted. That woke them up alright.

"Yes Lightingstar?" Wingshadow yawned.

"You are to lead a border patrol. Take Blazepelt, Zipfoot, and Rainfall." Wingshadow nodded and walked off.

"I'm leading a hunting patrol!" Lightingstar shouted. "Stripedfur, Sorrowpaw, and Silverheart, come with me."

The cats gathered at the entrance. Lightingstar started to follow when she heard the kits arguing. She would've let Feathertuft deal with it, if it weren't for the part she caught. "You can't just give up on being a warrior!" Lizardkit was shouting.

"But, I don't want to be a warrior." Came Slitherkit's much quieter voice.

Lightingstar walked over. "What's this about not wanting to be a warrior?" she asked.

Slitherkit crouched down. "I-I don't want to be one."

"He wants to be a medicine cat." Lizardkit whined.

_Oh so that's what this is about. _Lightingstar thought. She shook her head. "If Slitherkit wants to be a medicine cat I'm all for it. We'll need a second at some point anyway. And if Slitherkit isn't good at being a warrior it's a waste for him to do so."

"But he _would _make a good warrior." Lizardkit insisted.

"No I wouldn't." Slitherkit muttered, staring at the ground.

"That's enough you two." Feathertuft said. "Lightingstar has to go." She nudged the kits back towards the nursery.

Lightingstar gave her a grateful smile and walked off to join her hunting patrol. "Let's go."

* * *

Stormstar sat on the border sniffing halfheartedly. This was the part of the border no clans were on the other side of. He doubted he'd have to worry about cats here. This gave him time to think about the prophecy. He'd tried to figure out what the first part of it meant, but then he'd realized it didn't matter. If the 'night' was going to save them all he had to figure out was what the 'night' was. _Say . . . maybe it's Nightwind._

Then he looked around. Emberpaw had been patrolling with him just a little while ago. Now where was she? "Emberpaw!" he called. She didn't come. He picked up her scent; it was going over the border. _Emberpaw! You're not supposed to cross the border! _He thought angrily. He ran after her, tracking her scent.

She soon came into sight. "Emberpaw! Emberpaw you're-" he stopped when he saw what she was staring at. They seemed to be in a deserted two leg place. But this one wasn't like the others. Both the trees and the two leg places looked dead. Beyond dead, they looked like skeletons.

"W-what happened here?" Emberpaw asked, crouching down in fear.

Stormstar looked around. He'd heard about this type of thing happening before. Once upon a time and very long ago. "I think there was poison rain." He replied.

"What's poison rain?"

Stormstar blinked. Of course not everyone would know about it. He'd only heard because his mom told stories of things long ago. "It's a type of rain that makes you sick if you drink it. And it kills trees."

Emberpaw, who was now getting less afraid, snorted. "And two leg places."

Stormstar decided not to mention two leg places were never alive in the first place.

"Stormstar!"

Stormstar turned around. He didn't recognize the voice who had just called him, and he couldn't see anyone. "Over here!" he called.

He was surprised to see Fallenstar's medicine cat, Sliverstripes, run over. She stopped and her eyes widened when she saw the skeleton place. "Whoa. What happened here?"

"It was poison rain." Stormstar replied.

"Uh . . . Stormstar?" Emberpaw asked.

Sliverstripes continued. "I've heard about that. I thought the poison rain was gone."

"Apparently not." Stormstar said.

"We should do something about this."

"Stormstar?" Emberpaw said, sounding more irritated this time.

Stormstar ignored her. "You can warn Fallenstar. And Lightingclan. Moonclan is close to us. We can warn them."

"HEY STORMSTAR!" Emberpaw shouted.

Both Stormstar and Sliverstripe's eyes went wide from the volume in her voice. "What is it Emberpaw?" Stormstar asked.

"Am I the only one wondering why Sliverstripes came here in the first place?"

_Well, technically medicine cats can go wherever they want. _Stormstar thought. But she had been calling specifically for him, so she must have had a reason. "Yeah, what are you doing here?" Stormstar asked.

"Fallenstar said you might know when the medicine cats meet and go to moonpool." Sliverstripes replied.

Stormstar realized he didn't know. He decided to improvise. "I don't think it really matters. So long as it's not on the night of the full moon, and so long as all the medicine cats come on the same day."

Sliverstripes nodded. "Thank you. I'll set a time with the other medicine cats." She started walking away. "And I'll warn Fallenstar about the poison rain!" she shouted over her shoulder. Then she disappeared from sight completely.

"Can we get out of here now? It's creepy." Emberpaw commented.

Stormstar nodded. "Let's get back." He and Emberpaw turned around and walked back towards clan. That's when Stormstar remembered what he was going to say before they saw the skeleton place. "And you shouldn't go over the border."

"Sorry."

Stormstar blinked. If Emberpaw was apologizing she really had been shaken up. _Or maybe she's getting some maturity. _He thought hopefully.


	8. A New Warrior

A New Warrior

(Sorry these chapters are coming out slower than the first story. I have a lot of homework, and am making a story I want to actually get published at the same time. So yeah, that's why.)

Fallenstar rolled around in his sleep, he was having nightmare. It was about meeting Death for the first time, and the dream had amazing accuracy to how it really went. He had fallen; apparently he had the name for a reason, off the top of a two leg place. And that's where Death had been. Fangmouth and Icepelt had been around, but all of them were too young to know much about fighting, unlike Death. Cats in that rouge group practically learned from birth.

Fallenstar was getting to that part he was being chased in his dream, when Sliverstripes returned. "Fallenstar."

Fallenstar, having been in a very light sleep, snapped his eyes open. "Oh, hello Sliverstripes. Did you find out when the medicine cats meet?"

Sliverstripes nodded. "Sort of. But that's not the important thing I found out." Fallenstar gave her a questioning look, meaning she should go on. "We found this two leg place, and everything there looked like a skeleton. Stormstar thinks it was the result of poison rain."

Fallenstar had to admit that was bad. From what he knew about poison rain. . .

_Say wait a minute. _"Stormstar thinks?" he asked. "What about you? What do you think?"

"Well, I can't think of another reason. . . "

Fallenstar nodded. "Of course. I'll go warn the clan." He walked out of his 'den' feeling irritated. _Looks like Stormstar was right. Again!_

He jumped up onto the roof of the two leg place. "Attention all cats!" the cats of his clan came closer. Icepelt limped out of the medicine den. "There is a thing called poison rain that is dangerous to drink. We have reason to believe it is back." There were panicked whispers at this. Fallenstar spoke over them. "There is no need to panic! We are safe from it until the next rain. Then we will just be more careful with what we drink."

"Yeah, like that's going to work." One of the warriors mumbled.

"Don't question Fallenstar!" Fangmouth snapped. "He knows what he's doing."

Fallenstar gave Fangmouth a grateful nod. He jumped down. "Now, let's get some patrols going."

* * *

Moonstar walked out of her den and looked around. After the dream with Jayfeather she'd had last night, there was something important she needed to do. "Blueblaze!" she called out to her deputy. "I need to talk to you a minute."

Blueblaze smiled. "Anything for my leader."

Moonstar jerked her head, indicating she wanted to talk outside camp, then walked out. Blueblaze followed. "Okay, what is it?" he asked.

"I'm making Smokekit an apprentice soon."

Blueblaze nodded. "That's good."

"I want you to be is mentor."

Blueblaze stopped in his tracks and turned to her. "Really?"

Moonstar nodded. "I just want to make sure you can train him. Because you know, he's blind." She looked down.

Blueblaze smiled. "I had a sister who couldn't hear. I can handle Smokekit."

_He did? _Moonstar wondered. That was new, but it meant she'd made the right choice by picking him. "Good. We can go back to camp." She was about to turn around when she saw a cat sitting on the border. "On second thought. Let's go see what she wants."

Blueblaze nodded. The two of them walked over. This wasn't a cat from any of the other cats, as far as Moonstar knew. The cat had a black pelt and orange eyes. _Well that's not normal. _Moonstar thought. "Excuse me, what are you doing here?" she asked.

The cat looked up. "I want to join your clan. I'm Dragon."

Moonstar thought. This was a first. _Then again, we haven't had clans that long. _She nodded. "Okay Dragon. You can come back with us. But we will have to give you a warrior name."

Dragon nodded. "That's fine with me."

They walked back into camp. Moonstar climbed into a tree, it had once been where the leaders sat for the full moon truce. "All cats old enough to catch your own prey come under the trees! We are having a meeting." The cats gathered, Smokekit poked his head out of the nursery. "First, I would like to welcome our new warrior." She waved her tail at Dragon. "From now on, her name is Dragonflame." There were cheers for Dragonflame. "Next, Smokekit, come forth." Smokekit walked forward. It was hard to tell, but he seemed surprised. "It is time for you to become an apprentice. From now on, you will be known as Smokepaw, and your mentor will be Blueblaze."

There were more cheers, though Moonstar was a little concerned when she realized these cheers weren't nearly as happy as for Dragonflame. _Don't tell me they don't think Smokepaw can do it either. _

Smokepaw didn't seem to care though. He beamed and touched noses with Blueblaze. "Thanks Moonstar." He said.

Moonstar smiled and nodded.


	9. Mountains

Mountains

(I still only have half a guess on what the prophecy, which wasn't right. So yeah, still excepting.)

Death Trap and Dinosaur made it to the mountains. It had taken longer to reach there than Death Trap had guessed, but that didn't matter to her. The point was they were there. "Let's go." She said. She had talked to Dinosaur on the way, not wanting to come off as _too _cold. That would be bad. But now she didn't care, she was too close to care.

She and Dinosaur walked up the mountain. It was steeper than she'd predicted too. That irritated her. That was when three cats jumped out of the rocks. Two toms and a she cat. One of the cats tried to pounce on her. She rolled to the ground. Her movement without resistance threw the tom off balance. She shoved her claws into his stomach shoving him off. Then she jumped back up and yanked the she cat off Dinosaur. He couldn't possibly fight two of these cats at once. The guy had no talent. The she cat swiped Death Trap across the face. "Back off intruder!" she hissed.

Death Trap staggered back. "Why do you hate intruders?"

"A whole group of intruders came here once. They left long ago, when things got tough. But we haven't forgotten." The tom she'd attacked earlier explained. He explained it rather nastily at that.

"But we're from the clans!" Death Trap insisted.

Everyone froze. For a second, Death Trap thought that would be the end of it. Then the tom hissed. "Liar! The clans are gone. The intruders moved to where they used to live."

Death Trap shook her head. "The clans did die, but Starclan found four cats to recreate them." She wanted to gag saying Starclan, but she was a good faker. "They sent us to check what happened to," Death Trap realized she didn't know what kind of group they were, "you." She settled with.

The leading tom looked suspicious, but the other tom was thrilled. "Then that's great! We should take you back to Stone Teller."

The lead tom nodded. "Good idea." He started walking, flicking his tail for them to follow. Death Trap and Dinosaur followed and the other two took the rear.

"I'm Crack by the way. Well, Crack in the Cliff Side technically. But that takes a long time to say."

Death Trap forced her-self to smile. "I'm Deathtrap. I'm in the Shadowclan equivalent." She explained when they made face at her name. "And this is Dinosaurfang."

The lead tom nodded. "I'm Eagle that Strikes Ground. But everyone calls me Eagle."

"And I'm Small Light in the Night Sky. But call me Light, you call me Small and you're dead." The she cat said.

Death Trap nodded. "I wouldn't want to be called Small either." But she was thinking _Let's just get to Stone Teller already. Whatever that is._

* * *

Spring looked out the window. "Alright guys, let's hunt."

Summer made a face. "Now?"

"Yes. Unless you'd like to skip dinner?" Spring suggested. Summer shook her head. Spring nodded. "Good. I'll go with Winter. Autumn and Summer, you can go together." Considering Winter and Summer were usually terrible hunters she didn't want them going together.

The four of them left the two leg place. She and Winter went one way and Autumn and Summer went the other way. Spring sniffed for prey. Winter seemed even more distracted than usual though. "Spring?" he asked. She made a little snort noise meaning for him to go on. "What do you think that sparkling cat meant? When she said we were special?"

Spring sighed. "Winter, we're not around Summer, and I won't yell at you for not catching prey. You don't have to keep talking about that lie."

She kept moving, then she noticed Winter wasn't following. She turned around; he had a hurt expression on his face. "You don't believe me?"

Spring made a very annoyed noise. "Winter enough. Cats don't sparkle!"

"That one did! And the herb works too!"

Spring bristled. "Fine! You go chase after sparkling cats and fake herbs. I'm going to get us our meal. You know, what we need to stay alive!" Then she stormed off.

She heard Winter hiss, and he might have called after her, but she knew he couldn't catch up with her. She kept walking. _That fool, _she thought irritably, _living in his day dreams. If we want to live we can't live in a world that doesn't exist._

(Okay, I know a lot of people are tired of the tribe, but they are in every series except the first. They kind of have to be in the series somewhere. If anyone is wondering how they lived when the clans didn't, there are two reasons. One: Part of the end of the world was caused by two legs; they live far away from that. Two: The tribe is used to dealing with problem after problem. They probably didn't even notice a difference. Oh yeah, and the rouge group that used to live in the mountains, I sort of hint at it, they become the rouge group led by Death. Which doesn't mean anything if you didn't read the first of these I wrote. Just a random fact.)


	10. Never Ends

Never Ends

(Yeah, I know a cat won't know what an Angel is. But they have a lot of other names in this they wouldn't know what it means.)

Stormstar walked to the medicine den. It wasn't the original medicine den used back when this was Thunderclan; the nursery had caved in over time, so the dens had to be changed a bit.

The prophecy was driving him crazy, he knew if there was one cat he could talk to about it, it was his medicine cat. And his medicine cat wasn't just any random cat, she was his sister. "Angelwing?"

Angelwing turned around. She smiled when she saw it was him. "Stormstar!" she ran over and put her head into his pelt and purred. "I'm glad you came. But wait, why did you come?"

Stormstar sighed. "I got a prophecy from Starclan."

Angelwing gasped. "What did they say?"

"They said. . ." Stormstar strained, trying to remember the exact words. "Darkness and death are near. The shadow is far, but the 'night' will save the clan."

Angelwing gave him a thought full look. "Say, wasn't the old leader of the rouge group named Death?" Stormstar nodded. "Then it might be him."

Stormstar gulped. Then his eyes widened. "And he's in Dark Forest! Darkness."

Angelwing looked afraid. "Oh Stormstar. This is bad, really bad."

"Well, don't forget they said the 'night' will save us. I think they mean Nightwind."

Angelwing gave a thoughtful look. "Yes, that does make sense. And it would confirm Nightwind was a good deputy choice."

Stormstar nodded. Wondering about the prophecy never ended for him. It was nice to be able to talk to Angelwing about it.

* * *

Wingshadow led her patrol to the border. The one with Moonclan. They also shared a smaller border with Fallenclan. "Alright, let's check!" she called out. The cats spread out and started checking the border. The downside of having more territory than the old clans, was it was harder to have border patrol. Fortunately nothing had changed with Moonclan.

They walked to the Fallenclan border. Wingshadow sniffed. She didn't smell any trespassers. "Hey! Wingshadow! I smell something weird over here!" Zipfoot called out.

"Is it Fallenclan?" she asked.

Zipfoot shook his head from where he was. "It doesn't smell like a cat. Doesn't smell much like any animal I've smelled before either."

Wingshadow sighed. Zipfoot was a good warrior, but a bit dim in the head. She walked over and took a sniff. She brought her head back up and looked around in panic.

"What is it Wingshadow?" Rainfall asked.

"It's a badger." She said. Blazepelt looked properly afraid, but the other two just looked confused.

"What's a badger?" Zipfoot wanted to know.

Wingshadow looked at the two. "You don't know?" Zipfoot and Rainfall shook their heads.

Wingshadow looked off in the distance. "A badger is a very danger predator. They kill us." She turned to the cats on her patrol. "We should report this to Lightingstar." They nodded in agreement.

The four cats started back. Wingshadow stopped part way back. There was a hole nearby. She poked her head in. It went back a ways. _It must be part of that tunnel system we found Fallenstar in. _She thought.

"Wingshadow?"

Wingshadow blinked and turned. It had been Blazepelt who had called to her. The other two stopped and turned around. "Oh. Sorry." Wingshadow apologized, feeling embarrassed. "Let's go." They walked back into camp.

Lightingstar wasn't back yet. "So, now what?" Rainfall asked.

"We could play with the kits." Zipfoot said. Rainfall laughed and the two ran off.

Wingshadow made an amused purr.

Those two acted like kits themselves sometimes. As soon as Lightingstar came back Wingshadow told her about the badger scent. Lightingstar looked troubled. She jumped up the ladder. "All cats! Listen up!" Everyone became quiet. "Wingshadow's patrol picked up the scent of a badger in the territory! I think we should avoid this badger, and try not to do anything to anger it. With any luck it's already left. But everyone be careful anyway." She jumped down and walked away.

"Wow, that's probably the first time Lightingstar has acted concerned about us." Ashpelt said.

"She cares! She just has a different way to show it!" Wingshadow screamed angrily. How could Ashpelt doubt their leader?  
Ashpelt crouched, looking afraid. "I'm sorry. It was just a joke."

_A joke? _Wingshadow backed off. "No, I'm sorry. That was stupid." _Why can't I do anything right? _She thought hopelessly.

(Because of the first part of the chapter, I'm making it clear you can still guess on what the prophecy is. And at some point I might skip a clan in my chapter sequence, that's just because nothing is happening in that clan.)


	11. Moonclan

Moonclan

(So, the first one of these was really popular, but this one not so much. Good to know. I'm still shoving 4 more of these out though. I've done worse than five reviews. And yes, I don't put the lines in unless the clan changes. If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about you'll find out soon.)

Fallenstar walked through his territory with Icepelt. It had been her who had wanted to go, with everything on his mind Fallenstar hadn't really wanted to come. He still wasn't sure why he had agreed.

"It's great doing this Fallenstar. Just us. Alone. Don't you think?" Icepelt said.

"Yeah." Fallenstar replied, but he said it distantly.

"But do you really mean that?" Icepelt pried.

Fallenstar blinked. They'd had these little two sentence talks pretty much the whole walk and she'd accepted his half attention until now. "What?" he asked, turning to her.

Icepelt's eye grew dark. "Apparently you don't." she spun around and started back to camp.

Fallenstar had a feeling she would be stomping if it weren't for her hurt foot. "Icepelt what is it?" he called after her.

"You don't care! If you did you would've showed it by now!" she kept going.

"Icepelt no. We can talk." He called. But she didn't come back, she didn't turn around. She didn't even stop. Fallenstar stood there; for once, possibly the first time in his life, he didn't know what to do.

* * *

Dragonflame walked with Eclipsepelt. He was giving her a tour of the territory. He was also supposed to be telling her how things worked here, but Eclipsepelt wasn't a huge talker. They were heading back now. "So, we border three clans?" Eclipsepelt nodded. "And we have the smallest territory?" Eclipsepelt made an 'I don't know' noise. Dragonflame tried not to get frustrated, but seriously, it was like he was ignoring her. "Do any of the other clans border three others?" she asked. She tried not to let him hear her frustration.

"Fallenclan." He replied.

_Finally! He said something. _Dragonflame thought. "Well, it seems to me like we got the short end of the stick." Eclipse gave an indifferent shrug. _And we're back to mister no personality. _Dragonflame thought.

Still, Eclipsepelt didn't matter. Moonclan had the biggest disadvantage; it would be easy to manipulate them into starting fight. _So that leaves just one question. If Eclipsepelt doesn't matter, why am I making such a big deal about it?_

Meanwhile, also in Moonclan, Smokepaw walked up to Blueblaze. "Blueblaze? Are we going to start training?" he asked.

"Yes." Blueblaze replied. He did some really fast thinking. There were three main duties that had to be done, border patrols, hunting, and teaching Smokepaw to fight. _Well, if any of those are more important than the others, it hunting. Besides, teaching Smokepaw to fight will be tough, might as well start simple. _"Hunting. We're going hunting."

Smokepaw nodded. "Okay."

Blueblaze walked out of camp and Smokepaw followed. "So, I think you know a little about hunting. You track with your nose."

Smokepaw rolled his eyes and Blueblaze's obvious statement. "Yeah. I know _that_. And I'll be good at it."

Blueblaze nodded, then remembered Smokepaw couldn't see him. "Yes. Good. So I'll move on to something you might not know. Form." If it had been any other apprentice he would've just shown them the proper form. But obviously that wouldn't work with Smokepaw. So he settled with describing it. "You have to be low, close to the ground, but if you're too close, you'll make noise and scare the prey away. And of course, you have to keep your tail down. So, let's see what you can do, and I'll correct you."

Smokepaw got low to the ground. He did pretty well with all of Blueblaze's instructions, except one thing. Blueblaze walked over and gently pushed Smokepaw's lower half closer to the ground. Smokepaw tensed a little. "Alright. So, I'm doing it right now."

Blueblaze resisted nodding; it was such an instinctual thing to do. "Yes. So now let's hunt. We can probably find the most prey in the forest." Which was Windclan's old territory. Trees had grown there when the clans and two legs disappeared. "And while we're hunting we should try to find someplace for the four clans to meet. Since we're the center most clan the other clans want us to find a place."

Smokepaw nodded. The two walked over to the forest, not that it was a very dense forest. Smokepaw sniffed, and started off. Blueblaze sniffed but didn't smell any prey. _I guess he really can smell better than other cats. _

Blueblaze followed, but kept his distance. He didn't want to scare away Smokepaw's prey. Soon Blueblaze could smell it too. Smokepaw wriggled back and forth a little, then jumped out at his prey. He might have caught it too, if it weren't for the fact that at that moment Eclipsepelt came around the corner. Smokepaw smacked into him. And the two fell over.

"Smokepaw!" Blueblaze ran over. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine! Don't get your whiskers in a knot about it." Smokepaw snapped.

Blueblaze took a step back. "You can calm down. You're my apprentice; it's my job to worry about you."

Blueblaze couldn't tell if Smokepaw believed him or not, without eyes it was kind of hard to read his expressions, but he didn't say anything more on the matter. So Blueblaze helped Eclipsepelt up. "Sorry about that."

"My fault." Eclipsepelt replied.

Then the new cat came into view. _Dragonflame is her name. Right. _"High there Dragonflame." He greeted.

Dragonflame smiled. "Hi Blueblaze."

Blueblaze tried to think about something else to say. He couldn't think of anything though. "Well, I guess me and Smokepaw should go back to hunting." Smokepaw nodded.

Eclipsepelt nodded too and started back towards camp. He flicked his tail for Dragonflame to follow. Dragonflame followed, she didn't seem happy. Blueblaze couldn't say he was surprised. Eclipsepelt's lack of talking usually made him come off as cold, but he was smiling, and that was usually a good sign.


	12. Bear

Bear

(Quick word on the dark ones. They originally weren't even in this, but they are in a story I'm actually trying to get published. So I thought it would be an interesting touch to put them in here. And now I can't get rid of them obviously.)

The mountain cats clambered down under a waterfall. Death Trap and Dinosaur followed. _They live under a waterfall? Weird. _Death Trap thought. It also might come in handy. It would be so easy to shove someone off into the water. . .

The three mountain cats entered a cave. A black cat came up. "Light!" he looked behind her. "Who are these two?"

"That's what we have to tell Stone Teller about Shadow." Light replied.

The black cat, Death Trap figured he must be Shadow, nodded and called out, "Someone get Stone Teller!" someone did go.

They came back with a brown cat; then again, most cats here were some shade of brown or another. Dinosaur fit in well. "What is it Shadow? And who are these two?" he asked suspiciously.

Light, looking pissed off, gave Shadow a little shove out of the way. "We found them. They claim they're from the clans."

"That have been recreated." Eagle added. Death Trap couldn't tell if he believed it from the way he said it. "And they wanted to see what happened to the mountain tribe."

_So this is a tribe. _Death Trap thought. _Good to know._

Stone Teller seemed to be thinking this story over. "Well, as you can see, we are fine. Better than the clans themselves were."

Death Trap nodded, looking upset, because a real clan cat would be.

Stone Teller gave a nod. "Since it must be a long journey to the clans, you can stay here for the night. And then you can go back and tell the clans about us." He went back deeper into the cave.

There was a short silence. Then Crack asked, "So, can you tell us about the clans?"

"Yeah. Are they the same as before?" Shadow wanted to know.

Death Trap didn't know much about the clans, but neither did these cats. That made lying easy. She shook her head. "The new clans are called Stormclan, Moonclan, Fallenclan, and Lightingclan. I'm from Lightingclan. Dinosaur is from Stormclan. And some of the old things changed so we won't end up dying off this time."

Most of the cats seemed to believe this, except Eagle. He narrowed his eyes. "The clans never struck me as the type to change their rules."

"Well, that was long ago." Death Trap replied. There was a tiny bit of hiss in her voice, enough that made Eagle back off.

Crack, oblivious as always, said brightly. "This is so exciting. I didn't even know the clans were real."

Dinosaur smiled. "Well we are. And it's exciting for us too."

Death Trap let out a short sigh of relief. _He's catching on about lying. _The cats broke into conversation around her. She meanwhile, was trying to figure out where they were. This was close to where the dark ones were. Supposedly. _I guess that makes this easy. Once everyone is asleep, me and Dinosaur can find them, release them, and get out of here._

* * *

Spring walked into the forest, still upset over Winter.

Of course the main danger of the forest was more rouge groups. Few dared to go into the old two leg place, and Spring could hardly blame them. The two leg place was dangerous, it was always falling apart. But rouges weren't the only danger in the forest. And she was so distracted by her anger; she didn't realize the danger until it was too late.

She walked through some bushes and froze. There was a huge bear, like there was any other kind, standing there. The bear would never have come here when the two legs were alive. But that was way long ago. And it wasn't looking at her. Spring followed its gaze; there were two other cats there. _Summer and Autumn! _"Summer," she muttered, only moving a small side of her mouth. "don't make any sudden mo-"

Summer shrieked. The bear charged towards her. Or maybe lumbered was a better word for it. That gave Spring time to dash forward. She pounced on the bear and yanked its ear. It swatted her off with its giant paw. She rolled away, the breath knocked out of her.

Autumn had shoved Summer away and the bear charged after them. Spring gasped, getting air back into her lungs. She jumped back up and ran after her sister. The bear was getting close to them, it opened its mouth and would've eaten Summer, but that was when Spring jumped in between them. The bear bit into her.

Out of corner of her eye she saw Autumn push Summer into the bushes. But her vision was going dark. The bear tore into her stomach and chest. There was a crunch.

The bear dropped Spring's thoroughly dead body, the siblings never figured out why it didn't eat her.

(Ugh, this chapter is not long enough. I'm sure there will be some longer chapters in here when the action starts.)


	13. Badger Attack

Badger Attack

(Yes, Stormclan was cut from this chapter. And yes, I finally spit this chapter out. And why is so hard to make a long chapter?)

Lightingstar walked with her patrol: Zipfoot, Stripedfur, and Sorrowpaw. They were on border patrol. The border with Moonclan was normal, but at Fallenclan's border there was a problem. The badger scent was still there.

As she leaned down to sniff, the badger came out. It lunged for Lightingstar. Zipfoot froze, but Stripedfur jumped at the badger and yanked it to the side by the ear. The badger swung its claw, Stripedfur tried to jump out of the way, but he was still wounded. He staggered to the side. Lightingstar hissed and clawed the badger's back. She jumped out of the way in time. She and Sorrowpaw launched in and out a few more times, mainly attacking its sides. They could a few scars, but nothing as serious as Stripedfur.

Then Zipfoot unfroze. He dashed in and attacked. He was much faster than the other two and got out of range easily. Unfortunately the badger kept spinning, wanting to get Zipfoot. It got Lightingstar instead. Lightingstar was flung into a rock, her vision spun. Sorrowpaw gave an angry cry and launched at the badger, but she was just an apprentice, she didn't know the best way to attack a badger. The badger shook her off. Lightingstar jumped back up, head still spinning. She attacked the badger and, in her current state, was easily defeated.

She hit the ground and blacked out. "Lightingstar?" Lightingstar blinked her eyes open. Stripedfur let out a sigh of relief. "You're alright."

"Yes." Lightingstar lied. She wasn't stupid; she knew she'd just lost a life. There was no reason to worry her clan about that thoug. That's when she noticed the cobwebs on Stripedfur's wound. "You're alright. Did Ashpelt come?"

Stripedfur shook his head. "He helped." He waved his tail to a cat sitting a little ways away, looking down.

"He helped us fight the badger too." Zipfoot added.

They both seemed rather happy, but Lightingstar wasn't. This cat was transparent, and he _didn't _sparkle like Starclan cats. She got up and stomped over. "You. What's your name?"

The cat lowered himself, clearly hearing her temper. "Knight." He replied.

"Well Knight," she got closer to his face, glaring. "You're from Dark Forest aren't you?"

"I-I. . ." Knight didn't have anything to say to defend himself.

Lightingstar hissed. "Then you can get out!"

The other cats looked uncertain on what to do, but none of them helped Knight. Knight nodded. "I'm sorry. I'll go." He dashed off and disappeared in totality.

Lightingstar snorted. "A Dark Forest cat apologizing? Yeah right."

Sorrowpaw shuffled her paws. "I don't know Lightingstar, he seemed like he just wanted to help."

Lightingstar replied, "Dark Forest cats are awful, not to mention liars. If he wanted to help, he should've done so while he was alive." She walked back towards camp; the body of the badger was sitting there. "Come on, we should take this back." The cats all grabbed a part of the badger and started hauling it back towards camp. It was not easy, badgers were not small creatures, but they managed it.

* * *

Fallenstar sat in camp, he watched Icepelt limp across camp. Sliverstripes said she'd be back to normal soon. Icepelt and Fallenstar made eye contact. Icepelt quickly looked away. Fallenstar sighed.

"What is it?"

Fallenstar turned, it was Fangmouth. Fallenstar shook his head. "Icepelt's mad at me, and I don't understand why. I mean, I know we don't talk, but I'm leader, I have a lot to worry about."

Fangmouth started laughing. "What? What is so funny?" Fallenstar asked.

Fangmouth laughed harder, causing a few stares. Then he managed to get it under control. "Sorry, it's just that it's obvious." Considering Fallenstar's blank stare it was clearly not obvious to him. "Icepelt has a crush on you." He said, lowering his voice.

"What?" Fallenstar asked in disbelief.

Fangmouth rolled his eyes. "Come on, it's been obvious for a while now. You've just been so busy with your 'leader duties' you haven't noticed."

"Oh." Was all Fallenstar could say. Now that he thought of it, that sort of made sense. _So that's why she was mad. _He thought.

He jumped down from his post and started walking towards the medicine den, where Icepelt undoubtedly was. He turned around. "Thanks Fangmouth."

Fangmouth smiled and shrugged, "It's what I do."

Fallenstar spun back around.

(If anyone's read the first one of these, you might remember Knight was in a tiny bit of it. On a different note, I really need to write down the number of lives each leader has left. Currently, Fallenstar and Moonstar have 8, Lightingstar has 7, and Stormstar has all 9.)


	14. Tresspassars

Trespassers

The sky was gray; it was probably going to rain soon.

Blueblaze and Smokepaw walked towards the Stormclan border. The border near the old half bridge that is. They were going to mark it, but that was when Smokepaw lifted his head, his ears up. "There are cats coming."

"Hide." Blueblaze told him. They went into some bushes.

Shortly after Stormstar himself and his apprentice, Emberpaw came into view. They were chasing a rabbit. And they were about to cross the border! _A leader should know better! _Blueblaze thought angrily. He jumped out of his hiding spot, Smokepaw coming shortly after him. "Stop!" he yelled.

Stormstar and Emberpaw came to a screeching stop. "Oh. S-sorry." Stormstar panted.

Emberpaw on the other hand rolled her eyes. "We weren't going to cross. Sheesh."

"Oh? That's what it seemed like to me." Smokepaw pried.

Emberpaw gave this innocent blink and spoke in a taunting voice. "Why I'm sorry. I didn't know _blind _apprentices knew so much about _seeing _us cross the border."

Smokepaw made a noise that was a combination of a scream and a hiss and launched out at her.

Emberpaw, despite practically asking for it, seemed surprised by his move. She crouched down, eyes wide.

Then Blueblaze caught Smokepaw by the scruff of his neck. He set him down. "Smokepaw, don't. It's not worth it." He looked uncomfortably at Stormstar. _He looks like he could use some sleep. _Blueblaze that.

Stormstar sighed. "What do you say we put this situation behind us, and both get back to our camps?"

Blueblaze nodded. "Good idea."

He walked off with Smokepaw and Stormstar walked away with Emberpaw. "She deserved to be attacked." Smokepaw muttered.

"Well . . . maybe." Blueblaze admitted. "But we fight those two we'll start a fight with the clan." Smokepaw sighed.

And that was when it started to rain. When they got back they were both rather wet. Moonstar ran out. "You're back. Are you two alright?" A few other cats looked out of their dens.

Blueblaze nodded. "We had a little trouble at the Stormclan border, it looked like they were going to cross, but we managed to solve it peacefully."

Moonstar nodded. Dragonflame called from her den, "They already have more territory than us. What are they doing taking more?!" Eclipsepelt gave her a look to shut it.

Blueblaze was having a very different thought. He was starting to agree with Dragonflame. However it was obvious Moonstar didn't, so he didn't say anything. Dragonflame looked upset; she walked back inside her den. Eclipsepelt shook his head at the sky, then followed her back in.

Dragonflame sat in the corner for a while. Eventually she realized this was crazy. Even if she was here to start a battle, doing nothing but talking about it would make the others suspicious. She walked back. "Eclipsepelt?"

"Hmm?"

Dragonflame had figured out by now that that was the most she was going to get out of him. "Look, I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. That was stupid of me to say."

Eclipsepelt, as usual, grunted. "Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Moonstar."

_Apologize to Moonstar? Seems a bit like over kill to me. _Dragonflame thought. All she said was, "Thanks for the tip." Then she stalked back over to her corner.

She didn't stay back there for long this time either. "Hey," Dragonflame's eyes widened. She turned around. Sure enough, it was Eclipsepelt who'd said it. He jerked his head at the spot next to him. "No reason to sleep alone."

Dragonflame gave a weak smile. "Thanks." Eclipsepelt shrugged, but for once he didn't come off as so cold and indifferent. Dragonflame rearranged her moss next to his nest, and they both went to sleep.

Smokepaw meanwhile, was having a different break through. He never liked getting wet, but this water was different. It was sticking to his pelt, and felt heavier. So he tried to lick it away. He made a face. "This water tasted nasty."

Blueblaze looked at him with concern; he was noticing the difference in the rain too. "Do you want to talk to Brokenclaw?" he asked. Brokenclaw was their medicine cat.

Smokepaw shook his head. "I doubt it's serious." He walked to the apprentice den. He should've said something.

* * *

Stone Teller walked to the back of his cave. He had to talk to his ancestors. He went to sleep. "Greetings Stone Teller."

It was a former Stone Teller, Crag Where Eagles Nest, who'd greeted him. Stone Teller tipped his head. "Greetings. I have to talk to you about the cats who showed up here tonight."

"We know." It was different cat who'd said that, Brook.

"The two supposed 'clan cats'." Her kit, Pine, added.

Stone Teller nodded. "Do you know? Have the clans really been re-created?"

At first, it seemed like no one knew, then Half Moon appeared. "Yes." Stone Teller blinked. He hadn't been expecting an answer, much less one from Half Moon herself. She smiled. "I talked to Jayfeather, he told me about it."

Stone Teller nodded. "Thank you." He was about to leave when Half Moon came closer.

"Some advice, the clans might be re-created, but be careful who you make alliances."

Then Stone Teller woke up. _What does that mean? _He wondered. Should he not welcome clan cats? That's when Shadow came in. "Stone Teller?"

"What is it?"

"I thought you should know, the clan cats are gone."

(Hehe. Then again, not a huge cliff hanger. If you keep track of the order, you'll know I do the future Skyclan cats, and Death Trap's perspective next. Anywho review please.)


	15. Releasing Dark Ones

Releasing Dark Ones

(Yes, Death Trap still calls Dragonflame Dragon. She wouldn't know to do otherwise.)

Death Trap and Dinosaur crept through the sleeping cats. The odds of waking them were slim, but even if they did, Death Trap had come up with a lie.

They made it away from the cats without any trouble. "Come on." Death Trap whispered. She led him back out and into the open mountains.

There was a howling in the distance. "What was that?" Dinosaur asked.

Death Trap rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, it was just a wolf."

"Just?" Dinosaur asked in disbelief.

Death Trap gave an impatient sigh. "He's far away from here. Now let's _go._" She kept walking.

But Dinosaur still seemed uncertain. "Death Trap . . . are you sure you know what you're doing."

Death Trap lost her patients. "Do you want to help me or not!?" she hissed.

Dinosaur noticed they were still dangerously close to the waterfall, and if Death Trap wanted him dead, he'd be that way. "Yes. Of course." He replied.

Death Trap took a few deep breathes, forcing herself not to kill him. "Good." She turned and walked on.

It wasn't a long walk to the cave, and soon they were in front of it. Or they would be, if there wasn't a rock over the entrance. Death Trap walked over. "Help me push." She started shoving. Dinosaur joined in. They managed to shove it the rest of the way open. Death Trap scrambled to the side as a Dark One raced past. Dinosaur looked like he was going to be sick. Death Trap gave it some thought; she supposed if she had a conscience she would be scared too.

They waited, but no more came out. "Is that it?" Dinosaur asked.

Death Trap shook her head. "Can't be." She peered inside. Dinosaur followed suit.

That was when the rest of the Dark Ones came running out. Having already seen the two cats, they couldn't hide. The Dark Ones circled them. They had red blank eyes, and black mouths that had slobber coming from them. Actually, their whole bodies looked like they'd just come out of a volcano. _Okay, now this is a little freaky. _Death Trap thought.

The Dark Ones lunged at them. For a second it looked like the two were going to die right there. Unfortunately, they didn't. That was when the wolves attacked. Death Trap's jaw dropped watching the fight. Luckily for her, the wolves didn't kill any of the Dark Ones. They were smaller than the wolves, but stronger.

The wolves did send the Dark Ones running though. _And running towards the clans. _Death Trap wanted very much to bask in her victory, but that would have to wait. Now she had to deal with the wolves. Death Trap crouched down, looking as afraid, but also slightly grateful, as possible. "Th-thank you. I thought those creatures were going to kill us for sure."

The wolf growled that probably meant something to him, but Death Trap didn't understand it. "He said, you've just released a great danger. You should be punished for it!" someone translated.

Death Trap turned towards the voice. Now what she saw was a surprise. It was a cat. A black cat, with _purple _eyes. True, Dragon had had orange eyes, but purple? That was weird. "We didn't know that would happen." Death Trap told her. Dinosaur nodded earnestly behind her.

But no amount of acting could get them out of this one. "Liar!" the purpled eyed cat hissed. "We saw you move that rock. You _wanted _to release the Dark Ones."

A wolf behind her asked something. The cat answered him. The wolves growled and snarled.

"What are we going to do?" Dinosaur whispered in Death Trap's ear.

Death Trap looked back into the cave the Dark Ones had entered through. "Run!" they two ran in. The wolves and cat tried to follow, but all the wolves took up a lot of space, making it hard for them to follow. Besides, it was clear they were scared there were more Dark Ones in there.

* * *

Spring groaned and rolled over. She didn't really want to get up, that is, until she opened her eyes. That's when she jumped up. She seemed to be in a sunny forest, minus a bear and her siblings. And that was when a cat came towards her. "Hello Spring."

Spring's jaw dropped a little. This cat was transparent and . . . sparkled. "Oh." She said, as a realization came to her. "Winter. He was. . ."

The sparkling cat nodded, "tell the truth."

"So . . . who are you?" Spring asked.

"I'm Leafstar. I'm a Starclan cat."

"Starclan?"

"It's a place for fallen warriors."

Leafstar was clearly trying to say this gently, but Spring translated. "You mean dead warriors. I died."

"Well, yes." Before Spring could panic, Leafstar quickly added, "But you won't stay that way."

"Most cats who die stay that way."

"Maybe now. But we Starclan cats can give cats extra lives."

Spring raised an eyebrow. "Then why me, and not all the other cats dying?"

Leafstar shook her head. "I can't tell you know. But I'll tell you this, you're a special cat." Spring opened her mouth to point out that was the same thing she'd heard from Winter. However Leafstar cut her off. "With this life, I give you an open mind." She touched her nose to Spring. Spring tried to move, but she couldn't. It was so painful. . .

The next thing Spring knew she was jumping up near her siblings. "Spring! You're alive." Summer cheered. She put her head into her pelt.

Autumn sat looking shocked. "You should be dead."

But Spring ignored them both. She looked around. Winter was standing a little ways away, holding plants in his mouth. "Winter!" she called. She started walking, but before she could even get there cats surrounded her.

"Well, well, well. Now what would you little cats be doing out on your own?" an icy voice asked.

Spring's eyes widened in fear. She knew that voice. She turned around. Leader was standing there. "No answer?" he said. "Well then, I can give you a new home." Then his so far neutral gaze grew cold, "You coming?"

(In case anyone's forgotten, Leader is actually the name of the leader of rouges.)


	16. Dark Forest

Dark Forest

(If you haven't read the first one of these in my series, Titanium and Death were in that one. And yes, Fangmouth said a moon. I think it has been around that long, but they haven't found a place to meet yet, so that's why they haven't had the four clan meeting.)

Knight walked back into Dark Forest. Breezepelt rolled over; he had been on his back. "Well, well. The pathetic returns." He snarled. When Knight ignored him he added "I told you it wouldn't work."

Knight turned back to him and shook his head. "I am from Dark Forest. I didn't expect them to trust me right away."

"You need to work on your lying skills." Sol told him.

Knight bristled. "I'm not lying!"

"Oh yes you are." Death replied. "And if you know what's good for you I'd stay away. Those clans will _never _trust someone from here." He waved his tail around, to show Dark Forest.

"I agree with Knight." Everyone turned to face Flame. "Just because we're here doesn't mean we always will be. You guys just don't want to try."

"Try what? To be a pathetic clan cat with rules from Starclan?" Breezepelt hissed.

"You know, if I remember correctly, you _were _a clan cat." Knight said.

Breezepelt pounced on him and shoved his head into the ground. "I was not like the clan cats! Dark Forest is my true clan!"

Knight kicked him off with his hind legs. He jumped back. "Clearly. Or you wouldn't still be here after like, five generations."

"Who would want to leave?" a new cat asked. It was Titanium. "I'd rather be here then Starclan."

"I second that." Breezepelt said. "Cats appreciate me."

"Well we wouldn't." Flame responded.

"Ooo, then you should've thought of that when you were alive." Breezepelt cooed.

This time it was Flame who was losing his temper. Knight shook his head. "Don't bother, we'll just leave." He and Flame walked off.

"Leave? And go where!?" Breezepelt called after them. "You're in Dark Forest, there's no place to leave to!"

Flame spun around and pounced on Breezepelt. Breezepelt was taken by surprise by the attack and for a second Flame was winning. That is until Titanium and Death joined in. Knight helped Flame. For a second they broke the fight. "Let's go. Now!" Knight shouted. He and Flame bounded off.

Breezepelt jumped back up and tried to follow them. But the thing with Dark Forest was, it was hard to follow anyone.

Fallenstar walked to the entrance of the medicine den. Icepelt was lying down, facing the wall. "Sliverstripes isn't here." She said flatly.

"I'm not here to see Sliverstripes." He told her.

Icepelt didn't listen to him that easily though. "Oh? I can't imagine why you'd want to see me. I can't help with any of your leader duties."

Fallenstar walked the rest of the way in. "I didn't come here to talk to you about that. I can take a break from leader duties."

Icepelt turned around at that. She looked curiously at him. "Why didn't you say something earlier?" she asked.

Fallenstar sighed. He wasn't going to admit about Fangmouth. "I wasn't thinking then. But I am now. And. . . ." he hesitated, if Fangmouth was wrong this would be extremely awkward and embarrassing. Still, it seemed like Fangmouth had things right. It made sense from how she'd acted before, and how she was acting now. "I love you." He said.

Icepelt smiled and touched her nose to his. "I love you too."

Later, at night Sliverstripes and Fangmouth came to the entrance. Fallenstar and Icepelt were still there. They were asleep. "Maybe we should let them rest." Sliverstripes suggested softly.

Fangmouth nodded. "Good idea." They walked out. Without anything else to do they took a walk into the territory. A new two leg place had crumbled. They crumbled a lot; it was one of the down sides of having dens in them. But they'd lived in the abandoned two leg place their whole lives, and there was no better territory.

"So, any idea who Fallenstar will pick as deputy?" Sliverstripes asked.

Fangmouth shook his head. "He's going to have to pick soon, but I don't have a clue who it will be."

Sliverstripes stopped, forcing him to stop with her. "Do you think it will be you?"

Fangmouth smiled sadly. "Sliverstripes, it's been a whole moon. If he was going to pick me he would've by now."

Sliverstripes sighed. "I suppose you're right."

"You don't sound happy about it." He pointed out.

Sliverstripes shook her head. "I think you'd make a good deputy."

Just then there was a crack. "What was that?" Sliverstripes asked.

"I don't know." Fangmouth looked around. He didn't see anyone but he had an unpleasant feeling they were being watched. "Maybe we should get out of here."

Sliverstripes nodded. "Good idea." The two left. At first they walked, then they picked up speed and were running by the time they reached camp.

Back where they'd heard the sound, a Dark One came out of the shadows.

(So it was kind of a short chapter, but so are most of the ones in this story. And now that Fallenstar and Icepelt's plot are taken care of the rest of the chapters will most likely be long.)


	17. Poison River

Poisoned River

Smokepaw spun out of the way as Blueblaze attempted to charge him. He launched out, pouncing. He pounced on dirt. Blueblaze had gotten away. He heard him nearby. He waited as Blueblaze got closer. At the last minute he jumped out of the way and swiped a paw out. He hit Blueblaze, but barely. Blueblaze had escaped again. "Come on Smokepaw, focus!" he instructed.

"I am focusing!" Smokepaw shouted. "I can't do it!"

"Smokepaw, you're doing well. . ."

"No! I'm not. I can't do it."

"You're very good at defense. All you have to do is. . ."

"Enough already! Stop trying to make it look like I'm doing well. I'm not! So what if I can deflect, if I can't attack back I can't fight. Face it, I'm a terrible warrior!" he stormed off.

After he was far enough away he lay down and covered his head with his paws. If he couldn't do it, he'd have to be a medicine and Jayfeather would be right. Smokepaw didn't want Jayfeather to be right. He'd worked hard, had done all the right things, so why couldn't he do it?

_I can do it. _The realization hit him, he lifted his head. Smokepaw had been a great hunter, better than most cats in fact. And he had escaped Blueblaze's attacks. If he could learn to be offensive he would be a warrior.

Smokepaw got back up and walked to where he'd fought Blueblaze. But Blueblaze wasn't there anymore. Smokepaw sniffed around and followed his scent. _He went back to camp. _On the way back, he came up with an idea. The biggest problem he had with fighting was that he couldn't _find _Blueblaze, so if kept in contact the whole time. . . Smokepaw grinned.

Smokepaw walked in. Blueblaze and Moonstar were talking. He couldn't make out what they were saying yet. He came closer, that was when they noticed him. "Smokepaw." Moonstar greeted. She and Blueblaze stopped talking.

_Which means they were talking about me. _He knew. He decided to ignore that problem for the time being. He nodded to Moonstar and turned to Blueblaze. "Hey."

"Hi Smokepaw. I was worried about where you might've gone you know."

Smokepaw sighed and spun his paw around. _Why did I have to lose my temper? _"Yeah, sorry." There was a short pause. "C-can we go back to fighting?" he asked.

Smokepaw could only interpret the silence as surprise. "Sure." Blueblaze replied. "Moonstar, since we're here. . ."

Moonstar rolled her eyes. "Go for it." She didn't typically want cats practicing their fighting moves in camp, but in this case it was fine.

Blueblaze jumped at Smokepaw. This time Smokepaw tried a different tactic. He let Blueblaze pin him, then he kicked Blueblaze. Blueblaze got off. _Oh no, he can't do that. _Smokepaw jumped towards where he thought Blueblaze had gone. He did hit Blueblaze, lightly. Unfortunately after that he lost Blueblaze. He spun around trying to find him.

Blueblaze pounced on him again. "Don't worry, you're doing well." He encouraged.

"Better than before that's for sure." He agreed. He kicked Blueblaze. Then, keeping one paw on him, jumped on top of him and ran his paws on his sides, keeping his claws sheathed of course.

Meanwhile Eclipsepelt and Dragonflame walked through the forest, each with a piece of prey. It was curious that they were still doing everything together, but Dragonflame was still relatively new and Eclipsepelt wasn't the type to refuse to go hunting. Of course he was, as Dragonflame worded, 'Mister Zero Personality' on the trips, but she was getting used to it.

_It's probably best that way. _She tried to convince herself. _It gives me more time to think. I have to figure out how to tip this clan. _It would be rather easy actually. Aside from Moonstar, the clan would go into a fight with Stormclan. She made a mental note to work on that soon.

In the meantime, she was thirsty. They were passing a river. "Mind if I drink?" she asked Eclipsepelt through her prey. Eclipsepelt shrugged and that usually indicated she could. Dragonflame set her prey down and drank. She made a face. Eclipsepelt gave her a questioning look. "Water doesn't taste very look." She explained.

Eclipsepelt nodded. He looked concerned, but this was one of those times he didn't want to talk.

Dragonflame picked up her prey. "Let's go." They hadn't gotten very far when her head started hurting. Or maybe spinning was a better term. Dragonflame staggered.

"Dragonflame?" Eclipsepelt asked.

"I'm fine." She replied. Dragonflame got up, but the world was going dark. She fell back down.

The last thing she had heard was Eclipsepelt shouting "Dragonflame! Dragonflame!"

It would only occur to her later, that was the most talking she had ever gotten out of him.

(If anybody is wondering why my A/N tend to rant, that tends to happen when I don't get many reviews. I've gotten more now though, so I'll probably rant less. After this chapter.)


	18. Disappear

Disappear

(I know, it's been about a century since I worked on this. Sorry about that, sort of.)

Wingshadow walked through the territory alone. She enjoyed being alone every once and a while. She was near the Moonclan border when she saw it. There was a black cat there. He looked bigger than normal cats, and looked a bit burnt. But that wasn't the disturbing part. He was eating a kit!

"STOP!" Wingshadow shrieked.

The creature looked up. Wingshadow felt like her stomach was going to drop out of her when she saw the creature's red eyes and bloody mouth. It growled and lunged at her. She jumped to the side, spinning in the air as she went. That way she was still facing it. She clawed at its face. Nothing seemed to happen.

The creatures swung its own claw at Wingshadow. Wingshadow went sprawling. She was panicking now. _Not good. It's going to kill me for sure. _She thought. It pounced again and she rolled out of the way. Now, as if there wasn't already a huge problem, she was in Moonclan territory.

She sprang back on her feet. When the creature attacked she dashed under it and clawed its stomach. She looked at her claws in disgust, its blood was black. In that moment of distraction she got plowed over again. As she lay on the ground, she saw a hole out of the corner of her eye, a good place to escape the bulkier creature. She dove in.

Sure enough, the creature couldn't follow her. It clawed at her from the entrance, but she was too far back to reach. Wingshadow smiled. Then a thought crossed her mind. _How do I get out? _The way she came in was obviously out. She looked around, this tunnel was narrow and it didn't take long to realize it went deeper.

Wingshadow crept further back. It was hard to see, but she could hear and smell. And it was through using those scents that she realized she'd been here before. This was the tunnel she and Lightingstar had met Fallenstar. _Weird. _She thought. And not good. If there was a passage in Moonclan, and Stormclan, where Fallenstar had been, this thing was huge.

* * *

Dragonflame awoke, partially, her head felt muggy. She let out a groan. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw Eclipsepelt and Brokenclaw. That got her to wake up the rest of the way. Brokenclaw let out a sigh of relief. "You're alright."

Dragonflame blinked. She couldn't remember anything. "I wasn't before?"

Brokenclaw seemed surprised. "No. You had drunk from the river; apparently the water is dangerous right now. I've already suggested everyone take caution."

Dragonflame nodded, though she still didn't remember. "Then thank you."

"Don't thank me. It was Eclipsepelt who got you here. You would've died otherwise."

Dragonflame looked at Eclipsepelt in a way she'd never looked at him before. "You did?"

Eclipsepelt nodded.

Dragonflame smiled softly. "Thank you."

Eclipsepelt shrugged and walked out. Dragonflame's look darkened. _Oh that is it! _She thought irritably. She got up and went after him.

"No! Wait!" Brokenclaw shouted. But he made no attempt to go after her.

Considering Dragonflame was still weak from the poison, she had a hard time following Eclipsepelt. She wasn't about to give up though. She chased after him. "What is wrong with you?!" she shouted. Eclipsepelt grunted. "See?! You're doing it again! You're not caring! You never have any emotion and I don't think that's normal!"

Eclipsepelt stopped. He spun around, he was showing emotion now and it wasn't a good thing. "I don't show emotion," he hissed, "because everyone I care about dies." Dragonflame crouched back. "My brother was one of them, but at least he's in Starclan. My sister was _evil. _I've lost her _forever. _And that cat who helped us after that was killed too. Why should I try caring? So you can do the same thing?"

Dragonflame stood up straight. She pressed her head into his fur. "Eclipsepelt, I promise, I'll never do that to you." She said. She realized that even though she was here to destroy the clans, she'd meant what she'd said.

Eclipsepelt seemed to tense at first, but then he relaxed and let her lean in.


	19. Secret Meeting

Secret Meeting

Dog raised an eye brow. "Knight, you're crazy." He said.

Frost looked at Dog like he was the crazy one. "But Dog, Knight could be on to something."

"Well obviously not. Because Knight already tried helping the clans and it didn't work." Dog reminded them.

Knight stood up. "Look, we all made some rather large mistakes well living. Fighting a badger isn't going to cut it."

Dog rolled his eyes. "Then it's not worth it."

Knight growled. "You're telling me you _want _to stay here."

"To be frank, Yes!" Dog shouted.

Then Abandon said her first line of the meeting. "Actually, I agree with Knight." That stunned Dog. Abandon got up and cross over to him and Knight. "Personally, I don't want to spend the rest of eternity here. If we want to get out, we help Knight." She turned to him. "So Knight, what's the plan?"

That was the one part of the idea Knight didn't know. Luckily, Flame did. "Well, you know that crazy cat Death Trap, and Dinosaur?"

"You mean the one from the group you were part of?" Dog pointed out, smiling innocently. "Yes, vaguely."

Flame growled. "Well, apparently they're releasing the dark ones."

Frost blinked. "They exist?"

Knight nodded. Flame continued. "We could help the clans, when the dark ones come."

Knight nodded. "And they're going to need all the help they can get."

The cats there looked at each other. It wasn't exactly like the majority of Dark Forest was there, but the place was huge. There were enough cats at the secret meeting to help the clans. "Well, I'm in." Frost agreed.

"Me too." Rock agreed. And the other cats there began agreeing. Even Dog said he'd come. But he was lying there. Knight suspected he was.

As soon as the meeting was over the cats went their separate ways. They didn't want to cause suspicion among the truly evil Dark Forest cats. Dog slunk off; he was going to warn Death.

That is, until Knight snuck up on him. Knight jumped out and pounced on him. Dog was taken by surprise and Knight got the chance to pound his head into the ground a few times before he could recover. Then Dog kicked him off, sending him into a tree then jumped at him with unsheathed claws. Knight rolled out of the way so Dog slammed into the tree, getting his front claws stuck in the trunk. In a panicked, he started trying to pull them out.

Knight got back up and brought his unsheathed paw across Dog's face. Dog spun into the ground and Knight quickly pinned him by the ear. "You can insult me and claim I'm getting soft all you want," Knight hissed, "but I am and will remain the better fighter."

He could see fear cross Dog's face. Then he kicked into Knight's stomach. Knight fell off, taking a bit of Dog's ear with him, and Dog went running off. Knight chased after him. The only problem was they were in Dark Forest, and Knight quickly lost him in all the darkness.

Knight hissed into the darkness and stalked off.

* * *

Spring felt the press of cats all around her. She still couldn't believe this had happened. In fact between this and finding out the starry cats were real, it had been a pretty overwhelming day altogether.

She pricked up her ears when she heard Leader talking. "Put them in the cave with the other initiates."

Spring was no fool, she knew initiates meant beginners. It was the other part of the sentence that bothered her. _Cave. We're going to a cave. _Sure enough, she was shoved into a cave. She could hear panicked mews further on, but at least here she was with her siblings again. Summer whimpered. To Spring's relief Autumn comforted her. It gave Spring a chance to talk to Winter.

"Winter, I'm sorry." She said. Winter gave a grunt and kept walking. Spring followed after him. "You were right about the sparkling cats. I saw one."

"You don't have to lie, Summer won't hear." Winter replied coldly.

Spring stopped dead in her tracks. Was Winter really that mad? True, she hadn't believed him, but it was a pretty unbelievable thing.

There was a shove at her back. She went sprawling forward as one of the rouges pushed her. "Move." He said. His voice had absolutely no tone to it.

Autumn helped Spring back on her feet. "Spring, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Winter's mad at me. I mean, really mad."

Autumn tipped her head. "Why?"

Spring opened her mouth to answer, when they reached the end of the tunnel. They were now in a large cavern filled with, for the most part, younger cats. "Tell you later." Spring whispered.

Leader entered the cavern and stood in front of them all, on a taller bit of rock. "Greetings everyone." He said, sounding about as pleasant as a cat threatening your life can. "I'm sure you're all a little confused right now. Well, I can explain everything to you. I am afraid your family left you. They have a lot of problems; they didn't want to deal with you."

"Yeah! Problems you cause!" Spring shouted. A large number of the kits looked at her and she could hear whispers bouncing around.

This clearly angered Leader, but Spring had to admit he did a good job hiding it. He shook his head. "I'm afraid you're wrong there. Your parents fed you those lies so you would blame us instead of them for their weaknesses." The kits looked at each other, they were actually buying it.

"Nice try, but you can't fool me. _I'm _an adult. And I know you captured us, and the others here."

None of her siblings helped with this argument. However to her surprise, one of the kits did. "Th-that's right. You killed our mom. I-I saw one of them do it." He waved his tail at the numbered cats in the back.

Now Leader wasn't hiding his anger as well. He stalked up to Spring. He snarled softly so only she would hear "You're rather clever, and that's unfortunate. I don't like clever. But there's no need to worry, no one survives Apocalypse." Then he turned and spoke to the group at large. "Now, I think we should all get some sleep!"

No one was planning on sleeping, but they weren't going anywhere either. Slowly everyone did get tired. "Stay awake!" Spring shouted, bringing a few cats out of it. "Don't sleep!"

Leader was snarling in the back-round. If Spring had been paying closer attention she would've seen him give a silent order to one of the numbered cats. They stalked up to her and slammed their claw over Spring. She went towards the ground and the last thing she saw before blacking out was Winter, looking horrified.


	20. Border Change

Border Change

Dragonflame walked proudly through the trees. After her weakness she had tried to do something awful to make up for it. She'd convinced Emberpaw to move the border. Honestly it hadn't been very hard. And once the rest of the clan found out there _had _to be a fight. Right?

"You seem in a good mood." Eclipsepelt whispered.

Dragonflame smiled shyly. Since their little talk Eclipsepelt had been showing more emotion, and Dragonflame liked it. _No! _She yelled at herself. _You can't be affected by him. _But it didn't work. She could have him and carry out her plans too. "I feel in a good mood." She replied.

That was when they came to the border at the half bridge. Or at least it was supposed to be at the half bridge, after Emberpaw moved the border they couldn't reach there. Smokepaw hissed when he realized the change. Blueblaze's eyes darkened. He turned to the others. "We have to report this to Moonstar. Now!" so the four cats went running back.

"Moonstar!" Blueblaze shouted when he came in.

Moonstar turned her head in concern. "What? What is it?"

"Stormclan moved the border!"

"What?!" That was the first time Dragonflame had seen Moonstar anywhere near mad. Unfortunately, for Dragonflame anyway, it didn't last long. "Okay." Moonstar said calmly. "Just move it back."

_So much for that idea. _Dragonflame thought. _Moonstar is too sweet to _ever _do something against the code._

She was wrong there though. Blueblaze walked up to Moonstar. "Can I talk to you alone for a second?" he asked.

Moonstar seemed to hesitate, then nodded. The two went into the leader's den. "What do you think will happen?" Smokepaw asked.

Eclipsepelt shrugged. Dragonflame shook her head. "I don't know." She answered honestly.

Moonstar and Blueblaze walked back out. Blueblaze went to his patrol. Moonstar looked at them all. "Change the border. Give us the twoleg area near the half bridge." Then she walked back inside her den.

As they walked back towards the border Dragonflame was confused about Moonstar. It wasn't until they were about half way there when she realized Moonstar didn't want the border changed. She was just doing it for the clan. _For the clan. _Dragonflame thought. There was something she failed at. She hadn't even done anything for Eclipsepelt.

* * *

Light watched her brother Shadow talk to all the cats about the dark ones, and how their visitors had been imposters. Glow and Crack reacted with embarrassment and surprise that they had been tricked.

Eagle on the other hand was just being nasty about it. He kept pointing out he'd known all along they were trouble. As for Light, she just wished they'd stop talking about it.

Then Stone Teller came out. All the cat's heads snapped to him. "Stone Teller!" Shadow yelled, running up to him. "What are we going to do?"

"About the imposters?" Glow added.

"And the dark ones?" Crack said.

Stone Teller shook his head. "Nothing." Then he started to disappear back into his cavern.

"What? B-but the dark ones." Glow stammered.

Stone Teller turned his head but not the rest of his body. "The dark ones aren't going to bother us. They're going to the clans."

"But shouldn't we help them?" Shadow asked.

Stone Teller walked over to Shadow. He realized he wasn't supposed to question Stone Teller and crouched down a little. "I don't see why we should help them." Stone Teller replied.

"I do." When Light said that, she surprised everyone, even herself. She knew she was right though, so she got up and walked over to Stone Teller. "We all have heard stories, they're passed down the generations so we won't make the same mistakes twice. Well, according to the stories the clans helped us, a number of times. I think it's high time we return the favor."

For a short time, the two just started each other down. Then, to everyone's surprise, Stone Teller nodded his head. "Well said Light. Fine." He turned to the cats at large. "Light will lead you to these new clans. Eagle, Crack, and Freeze will also go."

Light opened her mouth to point out four cats weren't enough to be of much help against the dark ones, but Stone Teller hissed before she could say anything. "You are not going to fight, you are going to warn them. If you're too late, then by all means, join the fight." Then he walked off.

The cats all looked at each other in an awkward silence. Shadow broke it. He smiled weakly. "Well Small, I guess you better get to work."

Light scowled, momentarily upset at being called Small. She turned to the cats she was bringing with her. They were all fighters, and considering what they were about to do, that was no surprise. "Alright everyone, I know we're already half way through the day, and we won't have much time to travel, but we have to get to the clans as fast as possible. So we're leaving. Right now."

No one seemed too thrilled with that idea, but they all headed out. Right before they got the waterfall Shadow stopped her. "What?!" she asked irritably.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck. And good bye."

Light smiled. "We won't be gone that long."

Shadow gave a weak smile. "No, I suppose not."

They stood in silence. Both of them knew Shadow was worried she'd die, but neither of them said it.

"Hey Light!" Eagle called. Light turned. "I thought we were in a hurry here."

"Bye." She said to Shadow, then raced out after the fighters.


	21. Border Battle

Border Battle

(Thank you for all those who have reviewed lately.)

The Moonclan warriors hid themselves in trees near the border. The new border that is. They were waiting for Stormclan. And sure enough, Stormclan cats showed up. There weren't a lot of them, unlike Moonclan, they weren't expecting trouble. However Stormstar and Emberpaw had come, among others.

Stormstar stopped when he reached the new border. "What happened here?" he asked.

"They changed the border!" Emberpaw hissed.

"Well obviously." Said a cat. Dragonflame didn't recognize who. "The question is, what do we do about it?"

Stormstar shook his head. "We move it back."

Blueblaze flicked his tail, a cue that they were supposed to come out of hiding. "No, you're not moving it back." He growled. "You moved it first!"

"What?" Stormstar looked confused.

Emberpaw looked at Stormstar; she was doing an amazing job at acting innocent. "What are they talking about?"

Stormstar shook his head. "I have no idea." Then he looked darkly at Blueblaze. "Now get out of the way."

He tried to cross the new border but Blueblaze stepped in front of him. "No."

Stormstar looked like he might've attacked, but it was Emberpaw who started. She launched herself onto Blueblaze trying to cover his eyes. He swatted Emberpaw off and Stormstar attacked him. "Emberpaw! Get back up!" he shouted. Emberpaw dashed off.

Dragonflame tried to go after her but the third Stormclan cat stopped her. She slammed Dragonflame across the ground. She was glad the twoleg ground was over grown, or it would've really hurt.

The fight didn't last long with only two Stormclan cats. They ran off. "And don't come back!" Blueblaze shouted. Unfortunately, they did come back, and with a lot more cats. Soon a battle started up again.

Dragonflame ended up fighting Nightwind. Nightwind knocked her off her feet and she hit the twoleg ground. Dragonflame hissed, this time it had hurt. Nightwind lunged for her neck, but Dragonflame kicked her in the chest. While the wind was knocked out of her, Dragonflame slammed her claws across her face. Nightwind dropped to the ground. Dragonflame gasped. Had she done more damage than she intended?

Dragonflame leaned down to find out. Nightwind shot up ripped her claws into Dragonflame. Dragonflame staggered back feeling dazed.

"Dragonflame!" The daze ended. She saw who had called, Eclipsepelt. Somehow he had ended up fighting Stormstar. _Where is Blueblaze? _Dragonflame thought angrily.

But she abandoned her fight with Nightwind and attacked Stormstar. She managed to take him by surprise and got a few hits in before he fought back. Then he slammed her into the ground. That caused the world to spin a bit, but Dragonflame had already been forced into the ground a few times so she was kind of used to it. She scrapped his stomach. Stormstar hissed and crashed onto her. He shoved his claws into her neck.

Stormstar had no intention of killing her, but Dragonflame didn't know that. She kicked him off with all the force she had. Then she jumped up and flung herself at him clawing blindly. She was attacking so randomly it took her a little while to realize she was no longer fighting Stormstar.

In fact she was didn't know it until Stormstar shouted, "You!"

Dragonflame blinked. It was a dark forest warrior. She was fighting a dark forest warrior. The warrior turned to Stormstar. "Hello Stormstep, or Stormstar I believe."

Stormstar growled. "Get out!"

"Stormstar, I'm here to help. . ."

"I don't need your help!" Stormstar hissed. "Now get!" and with that, the cat left.

Still, it shook Dragonflame up a bit. What would the cats do if they found out she worked with Death Trap? She staggered to the side as the thought hit her. And that wasn't the only thing that hit her. Someone smacked the top of her head and she went sailing to the ground. There was laugh.

Then another cat stepped in front of her and snarled. Dragonflame recognized his scent. _Eclipsepelt._

BOOM!

Thunder and lightning crashed over-head. That gave all the cats a pause. They might have just gone back to fighting if Emberpaw didn't choose that moment to scream. The cats looked at her. "What if it's the poison rain?!" she shrieked. She looked like she was going to hyperventilate.

"Poison rain doesn't kill you by touching you. You have to drink it mouse brain!" Smokepaw spat. He wasn't looking so good honestly. He had been fighting Emberpaw and she had the obvious advantage of vision.

"Enough!" Stormstar shouted. "I don't care if the rain will hurt us or not. This fight has to stop." He looked at the Moonclan cats. "If you want this area, fine. Have it. There's not much prey anyway. Now I suggest we get out of the rain."

"What if we went in there?" Nightwind offered, flicking her tail at the old twoleg place by half bridge. "It's shorter than going all the way back to camp."

Stormstar nodded. He led his clan towards it. He was almost in when he turned around and asked the Moonclan cats, "Well, are you coming?"

The Moonclan cats looked at each other. It would be terribly awkward to accept the help of a clan they'd just been fighting with. Then a big wet drop hit Blueblaze's nose. "Let's go guys." He led his clan in; clearly embarrassed by the situation.


	22. Mistake

Mistake

(I finally got corrected on Lightning vs. Lighting.)

Wingshadow wandered the tunnels in the dark. She didn't have a clue where she was going. _Oh, what if I never get out of here? _She thought.

"Don't worry, you will." Came a voice.

Wingshadow spun around. There was an ugly blind cat there. "What? How? Who?" were the first things that she managed to spit out of her mouth.

The cat shook his head. "I don't blame you for being confused. My name is Rock. And you'll get out."

Wingshadow cocked her head. "Do you know that way out?"

Rock nodded. "But I can't tell you where. You must find it on your own." Then he faded out.

Wingshadow bristled. _Real helpful. _She thought sarcastically. She stormed off too fast. Without being able to see she slipped on a wet part of the ground and went sliding away. She slammed into a wall and was knocked out.

* * *

Stormstar padded into the twoleg place. He had noticed Moonstar wasn't there, but too many of her warriors had shown up for her not to know about it.

However Moonstar's role in this battle was currently the last thing on his mind. What was on his mind was that dark forest cat. Knight. That was when it hit him. He might have just made a terrible mistake.

Stormstar staggered to the side, Nightwind caught him. "What is it?" she asked, leading him the rest of the way in.

"I-" he sighed. "I'll tell you later. At the meeting."

"Oh no!" Nightwind exclaimed. The cats turned to her. "The meeting is tonight and we still have nowhere to meet."

"Actually, I think we do." It was Smokepaw, the eye-less apprentice. "This seems like a good place to have meetings."

The cats looked around. Stormstar had to admit, it did seem like a good place. The wall was missing in a few places so they could see the moon. And thanks to the stuff the twolegs left behind there were places for the leaders to stand. Stormstar nodded. "Yeah, this is good."

"We better tell Moonstar and the others who stayed behind then." Blueblaze decided. "Smokepaw."

Smokepaw groaned. "Fine."

"Emberpaw, maybe you should do the same. And Fallenclan and Lightningclan need to be told." Stormstar suggested.

"I'm not going out there." Emberpaw said. "No way, no how."

Smokepaw turned around. "You afraid?" he asked.

"No!"

"Then prove it."

Emberpaw growled but walked out.

Later, as in at night, the rest of the cats coming to the meeting showed up. "Wonderful weather we're having." Lightningstar grumbled, shaking the water out of her fur. She climbed up and sat next to Stormstar. Fallenstar and Moonstar and followed suite.

Everyone gathered around. "Who's first?" Moonstar asked. Stormstar shook his head. He was planning to go last. He had something very important to tell them.

"I'll go first." Fallenstar announced. "Prey is running well in Fallenclan. We've had a little trouble with the poison rain, but I think that's the same with everyone." He flicked his tail at the rain outside.

The other leaders nodded. Dragonflame blinked at how simple life seemed to be in Fallenclan. Moonstar went next. "Prey is running well in Moonclan. We have a new apprentice, Smokepaw." She waved her tail at him.

The cats cheered, except Stormclan. Stormstar tried to cheer to set a good example, but it didn't do much good and he wasn't really that enthusiastic himself.

Moonstar continued. "We've had some problems . . . recently, with Stormclan. However I believe we have solved that situation." She looked questioningly at Stormstar.

Stormstar nodded. "You're new border is respected as we never really needed it. But I suggest you don't push your luck."

Moonstar shook her head. "It is not in our plans to do so." She said tightly.

Lightningstar watched them, looking impatient. "Can I have my turn now?" she snapped. Stormstar waved a paw for her to go on. She turned to the clans. "Things have not been going well in Lightningclan. Our deputy, Wingshadow has disappeared and I want to know right now if anyone knows where she is." She fixed them all with her glare.

"Lightningstar," Moonstar said softly, "I haven't seen Wingshadow, but I did find her scent. In Moonclan territory."

There were several gasps. "And you didn't bother to tell us?" Blueblaze asked.

"You were rather busy over reacting about Stormclan!" Moonstar shouted. "I didn't think getting into a fight with two clans was a wise idea."

"Indeed not. Especially when it's not Wingshadow's fault she crossed the border." Lightningstar agreed.

"Not her fault?" Emberpaw asked.

"No. Moonstar finds her scent in Moonclan territory, and then Wingshadow disappears? Doesn't seem like a coincidence to me." Lightningstar explained. Two Lightningclan cats looked at each other skeptically. "What?!"

"Well," Zipfoot started nervously, "I'm just wondering, you remember what Wingshadow used to be like, and kind of still is. What is she's just, going back to her old ways?"

Lightningstar looked like she was going to kill him. "Zipfoot, I made Wingshadow deputy for a reason. I think I have good enough judgment to know if she was dangerous."

Before this could get any worse, Stormstar gave a little cough. The cats all turned to him. "What?!" Lightningstar snapped again.

"I haven't gotten to talk about _my _clan yet." He reminded her.

That got the desire to kill out of her eyes. "Oh right. Well, I have one more announcement. We had a badger attack. Everyone is fine, but a dark forest cat showed up. Some cat named Knight."

Stormstar looked like he was going to keel over. Moonstar quickly shoved him back up. "Stormstar, what is it?" she asked.

"I'm about to tell you." He replied. He turned back to the rest of the cats. "Overall, prey has been running well in Stormclan. However, earlier I received a prophecy from Starclan. Jayfeather said, 'Darkness and death is near. The shadow is far, and the 'night' will save the clan.'" The cats broke into murmurs trying to figure out what that meant. Stormstar raised his voice. "I think I know what most of it means!" the cats stopped talking again. "Alright. If I am correct, I know what all of that means except one thing. I also know me, well, Lightningstar too, we've made a huge mistake."

Lightningstar raised an eyebrow, but at least it wasn't the death look she'd given Zipfoot.

Stormstar explained his theory. "Well, death is near, that's the hardest part. But I think it might mean Death Trap. We all know she survived. . ."

"And she's the one who released the rats!" Lightningstar interrupted. "Sorry, realization just hit me. Go on."

"And the shadow is far. Well, Wing_shadow_ ends in shadow, and she's gone missing. And then the 'night' will save us."

"What about the darkness part?" Nightwind asked.

Stormstar shook his head. "I haven't figured that part out yet. Anyway, I at first thought he meant Nightwind. But if the clan needs saving I'm not sure how she'll do it. No offense."

"Well I don't know how I'd do it either." Nightwind replied.

Stormstar nodded then continued. "It didn't occur to me until today that he might've been talking about a different cat. Knight. It's said the same way, but he's a totally different cat. Plus he's already dead, so it's possible he'd be a great help in saving the clans. And we told him to leave."

(Now it's too late to guess what the prophecy means.)


	23. Apocolypse

Apocalypse

Spring gave a groan. Her head hurt, and considering it had been slammed against the rocks that was no surprise.

She flickered her eyes open. She seemed to be in a forest, at night. Spring sighed, then pushed herself to her feet. She wandered around the dark forest. There didn't seem to be much in the way of prey, and even though there was water, it didn't look like the type you'd want to drink.

_What am I doing here? _She wondered. Spring sat down and thought. It didn't take long to remember. The rogue group, the Apocalypse. She had to get back and help the kits. She jumped up and ran.

She was looking down and ran right into another cat. "Oh. Sorry I-" she froze when she made eye contact with the cat. Spring couldn't explain why, but the eyes stunned her into silence.

"Not at all." The cat forgave her. "What's the big rush?"

"I-I. . ." Spring tried to figure out what to say. She knew one thing for sure; she shouldn't tell him the truth. But she couldn't think of a good lie.

"It's because of Leader isn't it? And his awful rogue group?" he inferred.

Spring blinked. "Yes." She whispered.

The cat nodded. "As I thought. Tell me, do you have a plan on what to do with him?"

Spring realized she didn't. She shook her head.

The cat tilted his head to the side. "No? Then why don't you stay here a while? I can teach you how to improve your fighting, and then you will be able to take him down."

Spring was about to nod. "Spring! No!"

Spring blinked and looked in the direction of the voice. "Winter." She said softly.

"Spring! Don't listen to him!" Winter warned. "He's-" he rolled out of the way as the cat lunged at him. "He's Apocalypse!"

Spring remembered Leader's words, 'No one survives Apocalypse.' Well, it was time to prove him wrong. Spring launched onto Apocalypse and yanked his head back by the ear. He staggered away, then rolled over. He did so faster than Spring that possible and before she knew it was being squashed. Winter tried to help, but he was never known for fighting. Apocalypse got rid of him, knocking him out, fairly easily.

"And now just the two of us." He snarled at Spring.

Spring hissed, being careful not to look in his eyes. He had given her a few wounds, but they weren't bad. He launched at her. She jumped out of the way raking her claws through his side as she did so. Then she spun around. Apocalypse had swung his paw but she had kept her head low so he missed her head. He did however get her shoulders. Then he did the move that defeated her. He jumped onto his hind legs and smacked her across the face with one of his unsheathed front paws. When her head snapped in the other direction, it hit his other paw.

Spring, now extremely dizzy, and having deep cuts in her face, smashed into the ground. Apocalypse lifted his claw to deal a killing blow, when another cat rammed into his side knocking him over.

Spring blinked in surprise. _Winter? _She wondered. But even with her spinning vision she could tell he was still lying out cold. She tried to figure out who had come to her rescue, but it was impossible to tell with her limited vision and the fast paced fight.

Then the cat who'd saved her hit the ground next to her. That's when Spring knew who it was. "Leafstar." She croaked. Apocalypse lunged out. "Leafstar no!" Spring cried. She jumped up and dug her claws into Apocalypse, all the while not being able to see well.

Apocalypse shoved her back and she stumbled as the world spun. Then Leafstar kicked him and he fell back into a rock. Now it was his turn to look dizzy. And it was Leafstar's turn to try the killing move. But this time, no one saved him. Apocalypse died and faded from sight.

"Leafstar, you're all right." Spring said.

Leafstar nodded. "But you're not." She walked up to Spring and stayed on her side, helping her stay up.

"Winter?" Spring asked.

"I'm fine." Winter said. He didn't sound one hundred percent fine, but he was up and helping Spring, that was good enough for her. "Spring, I'm so sorry for staying mad at you."

Spring shook her head, decided that was a mistake, and said "It not your fault. Now we have to help the kits."

"I'll help you Spring." Leafstar told her.

Spring blinked in surprise. "You will?"

Leafstar nodded. "As will other Starclan cats. Saving kits is important."

Spring nodded, slowly. "But I don't know how to get back."

"Oh Spring, you never left. You're dreaming." Leafstar explained. "You just have to wake up."

* * *

Jayfeather watched the truce from Starclan. He let out an amused chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Lionblaze asked.

"Oh, it's just Stormstar finally figured out what the prophecy meant. I thought it was pretty simple." Jayfeather replied.

Lionblaze rolled his eyes. Hollyleaf on the other hand seemed concerned. "You don't think he's right do you? About being too late?" she asked.

Jayfeather shook his head. "Doubtful. Cats have taken longer to figure out prophecies."

"Such as ourselves." Lionblaze muttered.

Hollyleaf sighed and looked down at the cats. "I hope you're right."

(So, sorry about being anticlimactic on the whole Apocalypse thing.)


	24. Darkness and Death are Near

Darkness and Death are Near

(Time to enter the part there's not great place to leave off in.)

Stormstar walked out of the twoleg place. He scowled when he realized it was still raining. Before he had made it far something lunged at him, knocking him to the ground. He couldn't see what it was except that it was black and huge.

He clawed at it and tried to kick it off, but it didn't work. Then Lightningstar and Fallenstar attacked its sides. The creature spun around to attack Fallenstar, but Fallenstar was already ready. He swung his unsheathed claw across the creature's face. Unfortunately, fighting this creature was not like fighting a cat. The claw barely seemed to have affected it. It spun around and kicked Fallenstar. He went sprawling across the ground.

Now Lightningstar seemed hesitant to attack it. It charged at her. She sprang into the air and landed on its back. Stormstar and Moonstar ran in after her. They went to opposite sides of the creature and both dug their claws into it. The creature let out a wail and dropped to the ground.

Lightningstar jumped off. "What. Was. That?" she demanded while Fallenstar stumbled back to his feet.

Moonstar shook her head. "I don't know, but I have a feeling there's going to be more of them."

"What makes you think that?" Lightningstar asked.

Moonstar flicked her tail silently. They all looked where she waved it. There were creatures running towards them. The creatures were still pretty far off, but there was no doubt they were the same type as what had just attacked them.

Then four cats burst out of the bushes. "I'm Light." One of them introduced. "I'm from the Tribe of Rushing Water-"

"The what?" Stormstar interrupted. Fallenstar blinked, he was surprised there was something Stormstar didn't know.

Light flicked her tail. "No time to explain. I'm here to warn you about-"

"Them?" This time it was Moonstar who'd said it.

Light followed her gaze. Her ears went down. "Yeah. Them."

"The dark ones." One of the cats with Light growled.

_Dark ones? _Stormstar thought. He remembered the one part of the prophecy he hadn't understood. Now he knew. _Oh no._

"Well, since we're too late to warn you, I guess we'll just have to fight too." Light decided.

"What? No!" hissed the cat who'd said the creatures were dark ones.

"You can leave if you want to Eagle." Light informed him. "But I'm staying."

"Me too." One of the other cats agreed.

"And me." The last one agreed.

There was a laugh from above them. A laugh that sounded like whoever was doing it had lost their mind. And for some of them, it was a familiar laugh. Fallenstar turned and looked up a tree. "Hello Death Trap." He said without emotion.

The others all turned towards her. "And Dinosaur." Lightningstar growled.

Dinosaur nodded. "So good to see you again Lightningstar." He greeted sarcastically.

"This all rather amusing don't you think?" Death Trap asked, walking on her branch. "Me and Dinosaur, we saw up close how many dark ones there are. Considering it took four of you to defeat one, there are more than enough of them to defeat you. Even with your unexpected help."

Stormstar glowered. He unsheathed his claws. Then Death Trap said something that distracted him. "Now where's the traitor?"

* * *

Dragonflame was trying to stand straight. It had been hard for her to stand so near to Death Trap now that she was so different. But once Death Trap said that it became impossible. She staggered to the side, falling into Eclipsepelt. Eclipsepelt gave her a concerned questioning look. Dragonflame tried to give him an explanation, but the words wouldn't come. In fact it was hard to get the air to come.

"Traitor?" Stormstar.

Lightningstar snorted. "Don't listen to her. She's just trying to distract us."

Death Trap gave one of her crazed laughs again. "On the contrary. I brought a spy to Moonclan to start a fight. She doesn't seem too pleased to see me though. You aren't happy I'm back. Are you _Dragon_?"

Normally, there would've been a little bit of confusion if she only used the first part of a cat's name, but there was only one cat with 'dragon' in their name. Everyone turned around and looked at Dragonflame. Her reaction was enough to confirm Death Trap's claim.

Eclipsepelt stared at her, looking so hurt. He backed away. _Eclipsepelt. _Dragonflame thought. She tried to say the name, but there was still no sound coming out of her mouth. Eclipsepelt turned and ran.

"Eclipsepelt!" The word came out of her mouth, and the still scene erupted. She and Moonstar ran after Eclipsepelt, but Death Trap stopped Moonstar, pouncing on her.

Considering Death Trap had jumped from a tree that led to some hard impact. Stormstar yanked her off Moonstar by the ear. But that was when the dark ones reached them. The battle had begun.

But Dragonflame didn't know any of that as she chased Eclipsepelt. And it wasn't a long chase. He ran out to the end of half bridge. One of the planks broke on Dragonflame as she tried to follow. As she scrambled to get back up, Eclipsepelt turned around, gave her a sad smile, and fell into the water.


	25. The Shadow is Far

The Shadow is Far

Wingshadow awoke with terrible tasting water coming into her mouth and nose. She shot up and sputtered the water out. Under any normal conditions, she might have forgotten how she'd ended up here, but the water was a good enough reminder.

She spun around, trying to look for a way out. It was too dark to see much. She ran as fast as she could through the water. All she could find where dead ends. Then she spun back out to the main part of the cavern and noticed something. It was brighter here than other parts of the cave.

_And if it's lighter here, then there must be a way out. _Wingshadow thought. She looked around, but she didn't see anything. Not only that, the water was rising too fast. She lifted her head to keep it out of the water. She blinked. She'd found the way out. There was a hole in the ceiling.

Wingshadow let out a sigh of relief. She already knew she could fit out of that hole, because the first time she came here, that's how she'd gotten in.

* * *

Spring woke up. She still had a wound on her face, she could tell, but she could focus now. Leader was sitting in front of her. "Have a nice rest?" he asked.

"No." Spring replied. "And no, I won't join you."

Leader frowned. He clearly wasn't used to that type of response. "But . . . didn't you meet Apocalypse?"

Spring stood up. Now she had caught the attention of other cats in the cave. "Yes! I did!" She hissed. "And I refused."

"Th-that's impossible." Leader stammered.

"Oh?" Spring smacked her claw across leader, sending him sprawling into the ground.

Some of the braver kits started cheering. "Look out!" one suddenly cried.

A follower of Leader had just tried to attack Spring. But they failed because Spring had some help. It was Leafstar.

"What, how?" Leader babbled.

"We are Starclan." Leafstar told him. "And we are here to put an end to this." Then more Starclan cats appeared.

"The sparkle cats!" Summer cried. No one seemed to be listening to her.

Leader was clearly still shocked, and terrified, but he growled and ordered, "Attack them!" he followers did so without question.

A battle started. "Mom!" one of the Starclan cats called to Leafstar. "I'm getting Echosong! Winter's not looking so good."

Leafstar nodded as she fought one of the cats off. "Good idea Harryfur."

_Winter's not looking so good? _Spring thought in fear. She started towards him, only to be intercepted by Leader. "You're going to pay for this." He growled.

He shoved her to the side with such force she slammed into a nearby cave wall. _Great. _She thought. _Now my vision's spinning again. _She stayed down for a while. Leader came closer, "That all you have?" he asked.

Spring kicked him in the jaw and his head snapped back. "Yes!" she spat. "That's all I have." She struck her claws at his neck. He managed to deflect her, but she still got his shoulder. Leader swung his claw at her wound. Spring yowled in pain. He smirked as he drove his claw in deeper. He laughed at her pain, and that was his mistake. She swung her claw into his mouth. It was his turn to yowl in pain, and remove his claw from her wounded face. She spun around and kicked him in the eyes. He collapsed.

Spring could've killed him. She was planning to until she heard "Help!" She whipped around. One of Leader's followers was about to kill one of the kits. She ran over and yanked his tail. She yanked it so hard he ended up eye to eye with her. In his pain she got the chance to claw his chest. Then he shoved his head into hers, setting the spinning on again. She saw him swing his claw her and tried to stop him, but her aim was off. He got part of her neck. When he lunged again, she waited until the last minute, then ducked out of the way. As he landed she clawed his stomach. This affected this landing, so he fell to the ground. Spring grabbed his ear and slammed his head in the cave ground, knocking him out.

"Kits!" she called. "Follow me! We're getting out of here!" the kits all scrambled to follow her.

One more cat tried to stop them. Spring fought her, then Autumn showed up and slammed the cat against the wall. "I got Winter." She informed Spring. "Now let's scram."

Spring looked to see Summer holding Winter up. She nodded. "Good idea."

The four, plus the kits, ran out. Spring led them back into the abandoned twoleg place to the one they lived in. "You'll be safe here she told the kits."

Then she turned to Winter. He did have a number of wounds, but there were plants and cobwebs covering them up. "You okay?" she asked.

Winter nodded weakly. "Echosong is a good healer." He said.

"You'd make a good one too." Spring replied.

Winter gave her a small smile. That was when the Starclan cats showed up. "Everyone alright?" one asked.

Winter nodded. "I think we're fine Billystorm. But Spring needs something done about her eye."

Spring looked at the ground, embarrassed. "It's not bad."

Echosong nodded. "Yes it is. In fact," she lowered her voice, "I'm not sure I fix this completely."

Spring gulped. Echosong led her away and started patching her up. Leafstar followed. "Leafstar," Spring said, "I think it's about time you told me why you gave me a life."

Leafstar nodded. "I think so too." she agreed, much to Spring's surprise. "You see, Starclan warriors come from five clans, Thunderclan, Shadowclan, Riverclan, Windclan, and Skyclan. I was once leader of Skyclan. Unfortunately, all of our clans died off."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Spring apologized.

Leafstar shook her head. "It's hardly your fault. But, now to explain what you have to do with any of this. Recently, Thunderclan, Shadowclan, Riverclan, and Windclan created four new clans to replace their old ones. We decided to do the same. And we'd like you to be leader."


	26. But the 'Night' Will Save the Clan

But the 'Night' will Save the Clan

Stormstar watched from the corner of his eye as he and the clans fought. Everyone seemed to be fighting as hard as they could. But this time their best wasn't good enough. "This is bad." He said to no one in particular.

For a second it got worse. Death Trap launched herself at him. She never made it. Stormstar heard her collide with another cat and turned to see who it was. He had only meant for it to be a glance, but when he saw who it was it was a lot more than that.

"Knight!" he exclaimed.

Knight looked embarrassed. "I know you don't want me around but-"

Stormstar interrupted. "No! I was wrong. Help! Please!"

Knight smiled. "I will. And I won't do it alone." Beside him more Dark Forest cats appeared. A she cat walked up beside Knight. "Abandon, take your half and go to the other side of the fight." Knight instructed. Abandon nodded and dashed off.

Then Knight's 'half' started fighting where they were.

"No." Death Trap said softly. "No!" She shrieked. She launched onto Stormstar.

He kicked her off and leapt to his feet. He ran towards her and she kicked his jaw and neck. His head snapped back and Death Trap jumped up, slamming her claws across his face. He staggered to the side. She gave him a shove and he fell. Then she grabbed his ear and started pounding him against the ground.

_Come on Stormstar. _He told himself. _You're not going to be defeated this easily. _He kicked her face as she tried to bring his head back down. She let go and stepped back. Stormstar jumped back up and spun around. Death Trap swung her claw, but he'd expected that. He ducked and lashed his paws out at her feet, knocking them out from under her. As soon as she hit the ground he slammed into her. She rolled over and kicked him in chest. For the second the wind was taken out of him, and in that moment she ripped into his stomach. He fell on top of her and she bit into his neck.

_This is it. This is the end. _He thought. And then it wasn't. At first he was confused, then he realized he'd just lost his first life. Not an experience he wanted to re-live anytime soon. Unfortunately Death Trap had her claw on his neck. "I know you're coming back to life." She snarled, "And I'm prepared for you when you do."

_Well I'm prepared to make you wait. _Stormstar thought. And that he did. He waited for a while. Death Trap leaned in closer, and that's when he lashed out. He ripped right into her neck and chest. She yowled and made a run for it. Stormstar tried to follow her only to be knocked to the ground by a dark one.

Knight lunged onto the dark one, bit into its head, and yanked it back. Stormstar gave a grateful nod in which Knight flicked his tail in response. Then Flame came to help Knight. "You might want to Nightwind and Ghost. They're having some trouble." He suggested to Stormstar.

Stormstar nodded and dashed off. Sure enough Nightwind and Ghost, a Dark Forest cat, were having trouble with their dark one. Stormstar jumped up onto the dark one, digging his claws in. It didn't seem to notice, but then he bit into its neck. Nightwind came in from below and bit its neck too, and Ghost fought it while it tried to get the other two off.

* * *

For the fight, the apprentices had teamed up. There was Emberpaw from Stormclan, Sorrowpaw from Lightingclan, Emeraldpaw and Bravepaw from Fallenclan, and Smokepaw and Snowpaw from Moonclan. They weren't doing that bad really. Smokepaw, Snowpaw, Sorrowpaw, and Emeraldpaw attacked at the dark one's legs while Emberpaw and Bravepaw went in for the kill.

Then the dark one struck Smokepaw and he flew back. For a second he couldn't move, the wind was too knocked out of him. Then he stumbled up and didn't know what to do. He couldn't find the scents of the other apprentices through all the fighting cats. However he could smell dark ones, a lot of them too. He wasn't sure which one, if any, was after him. Then one swatted him. This time he managed to land on his feet. Smokepaw jumped out of the way blindly, which turned out to be a good move considering this dark one had swung its paw too. Without wasting time, Smokepaw jumped on and swung his front paws trying to find its neck. His paw went into the dark ones mouth instead. "Leave him alone!" he heard one of the Dark Forest cats shout. Whoever it was launched onto the dark one, but it was too late to get it to release Smokepaw. It flung him aside by the paw.

Smokepaw let out a groan as he smashed into the ground again. Then he could smell a familiar cat. He scowled. "Hello Jayfeather." He greeted. "Here to tell me you were right? That I could never be a warrior and this proves it?"

"Actually, I was going to say you were right. But if you're going to be that way-" Jayfeather started.

"Wait, I was right?" Smokepaw asked, sounding confused.

"Yes." Jayfeather sniffed. "Don't wear it out."

"But . . . I failed."

Jayfeather snorted. "What, because you got tossed aside by a dark one? They're not the type of challenge most warriors have to deal with. You're doing amazing well. Better than I did."

Smokepaw tilted his head. "You were a warrior?"

"I tried to be. I never made it far, because I wasn't meant to be one. But you, I think you were. You'll just have to do things differently." Then he faded and the rest of the world came back to Smokepaw.

He sniffed around. It was a lot to take in, but he thought it was safe to get up. So Smokepaw did so. "Smokepaw!" someone called.

"Snowpaw!" he ran towards her. She shoved him just as a claw whizzed by.

"Smokepaw, we need your help." She explained.

Smokepaw nodded. "Gladly."


	27. Run for It

Run For It

Dinosaur looked around in the midst of all the fighting cats. He knew who he was looking for, and who amusing it would be when he found her. It was Lightningstar. He walked towards her. There were dark ones all around, but they were too busy fighting clan cats. _Well, and those tribe cats, _He corrected, passing four of them.

Then he reached Lightningstar and kicked as deep as he could. Lightningstar staggered back. He raised his claw to swipe across her face. That's when she launched forward, ramming her head against his neck. He stumbled back, gasping for air.

"Letting you go is clearly not a mistake I should make again." Lightningstar snarled.

"You . . . won't get . . . the chance to." Dinosaur gasped.

"Oh? We both know I'm the better fighter." She kicked out at him.

Dinosaur rolled to the side. "True, but the dark ones are going after _you_." He shot his paws forward at Lightningstar's feet and she fell.

She shifted to the side as he brought his paws down and kicked the side of his face. Dinosaur fell. Then she flipped to her feet and laughed. "The dark ones don't have a preference. They're as likely to kill you as me. And _I _have nine lives."

She was hovering over him now. Then he saw who was behind Lightningstar. Dinosaur smiled. "Maybe. But I have something you don't."

Lightningstar shoved her claws into his neck. "And what might that be?"

Before she could get her claws in far enough to do serious damage, Death Trap hit her over the head with a rock. "ME!" she snarled. Then she shoved her claws into Lightningstar. Lightningstar jerked around, kicking her legs around a little, then was still.

Dinosaur got up. "Death Trap, I'm so-" he stopped when he saw her wound. "What happened?"

"Go now. Explain later." Was all she said. Then she ran off. Dinosaur followed.

* * *

Dragonflame dove under water. She was so determined to Eclipsepelt. However she must have over shot him, because she reached the bottom of the lake. It wasn't extremely deep where she was. She kicked her paws around, trying to find Eclipsepelt. She didn't find him. But she did find someone else. Someone who had been dead so long all that was left her bones, and not very solid ones at that.

Dragonflame let out a scream. At least she tried to. Once she opened her mouth water came flooding in and she started to go back up. That's when her head hit fur, familiar fur. She bit into it and dragged Eclipsepelt out.

She managed to lift them both out of the water for a second but fell back down. It was hard to keep Eclipsepelt out of the water. Giving herself a shove, she bounced back up and let go of Eclipsepelt, dropping him onto the half bridge.

Dragonflame fell back down, but without Eclipsepelt she could easily swim back to the surface and onto half bridge. She sat gasping for a little. Then she turned to Eclipsepelt. He wasn't moving.

"No." Dragonflame said softly. Then she shouted. "No! Eclipsepelt you can't die!" she shoved at his chest with really thinking, and water came out and he gasped in air.

Dragonflame let out a breath of relief, but the relief was short lived. "What are you doing?" Eclipsepelt asked.

"What I was doing, was saving you." She replied. "Has it occurred whatever's happened to you, has happened to Moonstar too? What do you think will happen to her if you die?!" her voice softened when she next spoke, "What do you think will happen to me?"

"Moonstar has nine lives, she'll die after me anyway, and she'll be too busy with her leader duties to let it bother her. As for you, you'll go back to Death Trap and Dinosaur and find new cats to try to kill." He said in disgust.

"No! I don't want anything to do with Death Trap! You saw how I reacted when she showed up. Surely you realize-" She got cut off, but Death Trap herself.

"Dragon, how nice it is to see you." Dragonflame spun around, looking like cats used to when they a monster was coming towards them. Death Trap tilted her head. "What's wrong hmm? Tom problems?"

Dragonflame struggled to find an answer. Eclipsepelt brushed her foot with his tail. It gave her just a bit more confidence. "What's wrong with you? Frontal wounds do not do you." She shot back, though she still sounded scared.

Death Trap frowned, and her killing side shone through her eyes. "No, it doesn't. But it will work well for _you_." Then she launched herself and Dragonflame.

Eclipsepelt tried to help only to be intercepted by Dinosaur. For a while the four fought. It started off as Death Trap versus and Dragonflame and Eclipsepelt versus Dinosaur, but Dinosaur was a horrible fighter and Death Trap was a great one, so things rotated a bit.

If everyone had been in great condition, the fight would've been even. But as it was Eclipsepelt was weak from nearly drowning. Dinosaur shoved him with all his strength and Eclipsepelt fell back off the half bridge. "No!" Dragonflame shouted.

She tried to go after him, but Death Trap pounced on her. "Oh no you don't." she growled.

But Eclipsepelt wasn't the only in a weakened condition. Dragonflame lashed her claws out into Death Trap's already existing wounds. Death Trap yowled and fell back. Dragonflame shot out. She knocked Dinosaur off his feet and ran to the end of half bridge. She didn't see him. "Eclipsepelt? Eclipsepelt!" Eclipsepelt bobbed back above the water. Dragonflame grabbed him and pulled.

Dinosaur, not noticing, crept back up behind her. She pretended not to notice him until the last minute. Then she spun around and, taking him off his guard, knocked him to the ground. "Death Trap! Help!" Dinosaur cried. Eclipsepelt, who was already partially back on half bridge, climbed the rest of the way up at that moment.

Death Trap trapped smiled cruelly, and for just a second Dragonflame felt bad for him. "Oh Dinosaur," Death Trap cooed, "I was going to kill you eventually." Then she turned and walked off.

Dragonflame and Eclipsepelt looked at each other. Eclipsepelt gave a nod and Dragonflame killed Dinosaur.


	28. Battle's Over

Battle's Over

(I thought about having someone important die in the battle, but over all this series seems more death oriented then the real Warriors series, more death isn't needed.)

Lightningstar sat up with a gasp. It didn't take a genius to realize she'd lost a life. _Great. _She thought irritably. _Now I only have six. _She got up and looked around. The battle seemed to be over, and better yet, they'd won.

The only thing left was Fallenstar fighting a dark one. He was losing. The dark one swatted him into the ground. It sprang into the air, ready to pounce. "No!" Fangmouth jumped in the way, sending them both to the ground. It did more damage to Fangmouth than the dark one, but it gave Fallenstar the time to get up. He jumped onto the dark one, biting into its neck. Stormstar and Fangmouth helped kill it.

Lightningstar let out a sigh. Now all the dark ones were dead. At least she thought so. They weren't here either way.

Moonstar was looking around. "Eclipsepelt!" She called. "I got to go." She ran off.

Emberpaw had run up to Stormstar. "Did you see Stormstar?" she asked. "We did it. The other apprentices and I." she bragged.

The other apprentices were heading back to cats in their clan too. _So where's Sorrowpaw? _Lightningstar wondered. She looked around, and soon saw her. Sorrowpaw was sitting off to the side, watching everything happen with a knowing smile on her face. Lightningstar gave a small smile; Sorrowpaw was a clever cat for her age.

Then Knight walked over to Stormstar, the rest of the Dark Forest cats sort of regrouping behind him."Thank you." Stormstar said. "For saving us. We owe you our lives, and I'm sorry for being so wrong about you."

There was an odd look in Knight's eyes and Lightningstar had a feeling he wanted to act upset over Stormstar's distrust. In the end he didn't. "I wouldn't have trusted myself either." He replied. "Now, we should get going."

A starry cat walked down from the sky. "Yes, going with us." He said. The Dark Forest cats turned around. "I'm Jayfeather." The cat introduced. "And I think you've earned your place in Starclan."

Abandon's eyes lit up. Knight seemed happy too, but he was better at hiding it. "Thank you."

Jayfeather nodded and turned to leave. "Wait!" Lightningstar called. "Where's Wingshadow?"

Jayfeather gave her a cocky look, and she knew she wasn't getting anymore information out him before he even spoke. "I don't think I'm the best cat to tell you that." he replied. Then he led the formerly Dark Forest cats to the stars. Stormstar let out his breath slowly. After a silence he announced, "I better get my clan back."

Fallenstar nodded. "Me too."

Lightningstar skipped announcing it and just went looking for her clan mates. She managed to find most of them, but Wingshadow was still missing. It pissed her off that Jayfeather hadn't told her anything. And, if she was honest, it worried her too. If the battle was over, Wingshadow should've been back. Was there something she didn't know?

"Lightningstar?" Lightningstar blinked and looked down. It was Sorrowpaw. "Are we going back to camp now?" she asked.

Lightningstar nodded.

* * *

Moonstar ran up to half bridge. Dragonflame was stepping off Dinosaur. "You!" Moonstar hissed. "You traitor!" she stormed up closer.

Eclipsepelt stepped between. "No." he said.

Moonstar blinked. "What?"

Eclipsepelt looked at Dragonflame, then back at Moonstar. "Dragonflame isn't evil. She just saved me. And Dinosaur is gone forever."

Moonstar looked at Dragonflame in a new way. She walked over. "You saved my brother?" Dragonflame stared at the ground as she nodded. Moonstar felt tears come to her eyes. She couldn't lose Eclipsepelt too. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Dragonflame said extremely softly.

Moonstar nodded, then went back to addressing both of them. "I think we should make sure the rest of the clan is alright." She walked off towards camp with the other two following her.

Dragonflame blinked, realizing for the first time the rain had stopped. She walked up to Eclipsepelt and whispered in his ear, "You exaggerated my importance you know. It's my fault you needed saving in the first place."

Eclipsepelt shook his head. "I know you're not evil, so I had to do something. Besides, nothing I said was really a lie."


	29. Lightningclan

Lightningclan

Wingshadow struggled to get her head above water. She sank a bit and opened her eyes under water. Above she could see light. She could see enough of it to know she was close to the top of the cave. _Close enough to get out. _She thought.

Wingshadow gave a kick and her head went out of the water, but getting out would be harder than getting in. She tried to get out, only to slip back under as her paws slipped off the ground. She kicked back up and tried again. She started to fall again.

That's when someone grabbed her by the scruff and pulled her up. "Wingshadow! You okay?"

Wingshadow panted, she was having a hard time breathing for some reason. She looked up at her rescuer. "Fine." She replied. "I'm sorry I'm on your territory-"

Stormstar cut her off. "It's fine." He waved his tail as if to wave the apology away. "Better you're here than dead. Now you better get back, Lightningstar is probably so worried, especially after all that's happened."

Wingshadow blinked. "All that's happened?" Stormstar started to walk away. "What's happened!?" she snapped.

Stormstar kept walking, oblivious to Wingshadow's anger problems. However, it did clear Wingshadow's head. She just had to get back to Lightningstar, and she'd explain what all this was about.

She looked around and ran in the direction that would get her back. Unfortunately Stormclan and Lightningclan were the farthest away from each other. Wingshadow was pretty tired by the time she got back.

She panted and walked into the old horse place. "Wingshadow!" Lightningstar called. She ran over. "I'm so glad you're all right. I thought maybe. . ."

Wingshadow suspected she knew what Lightningstar thought, so she didn't ask. Instead she asked, "Alright, what did I miss? I know it something important."

Lightningstar nodded. "I'll explain. Come on." She started forward waving her tail for Wingshadow to follow. The two walked further into the horse place.

* * *

Fallenstar sighed as he watched his clan go towards their seperate twoleg places. He had waited long enough to do what he was about to. Fallenstar walked out and stood on top of an old two leg thing. It stood tall, but didn't seem to hold a purpose, unlike the places. "May all cats old enough to catch their own prey come forward for a meeting!" He shouted.

The cats walked out, they seemed a little confused he was holding a meeting. They had just had one with the other clans.

"First, I would like to compliment you all on your bravery and strength when fighting the dark ones. We are the largest clan, but that doesn't always mean the best fighters. You have proved you are and brought pride to Fallenclan." The clan cheered. He let them for a while. "Second, I believe it's high time this clan had a deputy." He scanned his eyes over the cats. He already knew who he would pick, but he wanted to let the message sink in. "Our deputy will be Fangmouth."

Fangmouth gave a little gasp. Icepelt shoved him forward. The cats cheered for him. Fangmouth bowed his head. "Thank you Fallenstar."

Fallenstar gave him a nod. "You deserve it."


	30. Leafclan

Leafclan

There was a short silence from her siblings when she explained the clan thing. Winter didn't seem surprised, but he didn't know what to say. "Cool!" Summer exclaimed.

Autumn shook her head. "This is not going to work."

Spring looked at her questioningly. "Why not?"

Autumn sighed. "The kits will want to join this clan, and we can't have a clan made of just kits. We need cats to hunt for them."

"They have a right to join if they want." Spring replied. "And not all of them will."

Autumn opened her mouth again, but whatever it was, she didn't get to say it. Winter stepped between them. "Look, the kits are still nearby, waiting for what happens next. Let's just offer them the chance to join the clan, and go from there."

Autumn reluctantly nodded. Spring walked out and jumped up so everyone could see her. "Attention everyone!" That got a few kits to look at her, but not most of them. "EVERYONE SHUT IT!" Spring shouted. The kits promptly stopped talking. "Alright. We're forming a clan. They're a group of cats who look after one another."

"Unlike those rouges." One of them snarled.

Spring nodded. "The clan will be Leafclan, named after a former leader. Now, all of you who want to join this clan stay here. The rest of you can go." As they predicted, a few cats did leave. But most of them stayed. She nodded. "Now, there is a bit of buisness to get down to." So Spring jumped down and gave them all warrior names. Then she named her siblings. Summer became Summerheart, Autumn became Autumnpelt, and Winter was Winterfur.

She announced Winterfur would be her medicine cat and the kits, catching on fast, cheered for him. "Now, we need a deputy."

The kits looked at each other, seeming confused. "What's a deputy?" One asked.

"A deputy is the cat who takes over when the leader dies." She looked at her sister. "I'd like Autumnpelt to be my deputy."

The kits cheered. Autumnpelt gasped. "Me?"

Spring, now Springstar, nodded. "You'll be perfect for the job."

Autumnpelt bowed her head. "Thank you Springstar. I accept." By the time all that was done, it was getting late.

* * *

It was even later, after they'd done some hunting for the kits, that Springstar and Winterfur walked away to find the Starclan cats. "Any idea where we're going?" Springstar asked.

Winterfur shook his head. "Afraid not. But we'll know when we find it."

Springstar was getting concerned though. They'd gone farther than she could remember ever going before. Then Winterfur walked through some bushes, and almost fell. Springstar grabbed his scruff. "Whoa." She dragged him up. "You okay?"

Winterfur nodded. "Fine." And he seemed fine, just a little shook up. "And I think I found where we can meet Starclan." He waved his tail at the pit. The ground and walls of it shimmered, like the Starclan cats.

Springstar nodded. "I think so too."

The two climbed, carefully, down the pit. There, they curled up and slept.

When they woke up they were in Starclan. Springstar recognized it from when she'd been killed by the bear. And there was Leafstar. "Leafstar!" Springstar called. "Are you going to give me a life?"

Leafstar shook her head. "I've already given you a life. However, there are plenty of cats here to give you a life."

Billystorm, Stormheart, Echosong, Tinycloud, Harryfur, Sharpstar, Clovertail, and Rainfur had shown up to give Springstar a life.

"I'll go first." Stormheart volunteered. She walked forward. "I give you a life of knowledge, so you can lead the clan with your heart and head." She leaned in and gave Springstar the life. It wasn't as painful as Leafstar's life. As the cats each gave her a life the pain varied depending on the life. But Winterfur stood by the whole time and helped her be strong.


	31. Epilogue

Epilogue

Death Trap staggered through the forest, her breath shallow. She wasn't sure where she was, she wasn't sure how long it had been since the battle, all she was set on was getting as far away from the clans as possible.

Judging she was far enough away, she stopped and sat down. That's when she first noticed the strange feeling in her stomach. She didn't like it. Touching her stomach with her paw, she tried to figure out what was wrong. Had she eaten some bad prey or. . .

_Oh no. _Death Trap thought. The memory of being with in the tribe's cave, with Dinosaur flashed into her mind. _I'm having kits! _

She hated all cats, bringing more into the world was pretty much the worst thing she could imagine. She lifted her head up to the sky and let a yowl of misery at the sky.

* * *

Leader sat on top of his cave with another cat. The view here was good, but that wasn't why he was there. "Those cats have ruined me. My warriors are dead or wounded, and with them still out there it will be harder to get new warriors." He told the cat next to him. She nodded understandingly.

"Something must be done." Leader lifted his head, looking closer to the sky than to the forest. "They don't know you, you can bring an end to them. My only question is, will you? Red."

The other cat, Red, looked up. "Yes dad."

(So the sequel will be called 'Try' with a 3 in parenthesis. But it might take a while to put it out.)


End file.
